Gods and stories

Love, Desire and Transformation

The loves of the gods, and bodies that change shape

Many myths turn on desire: gods pursue mortals, often in disguise, and the chase ends in a change of form. Ovid gathered these stories in the Metamorphoses, and from the Renaissance on they gave painters a respectable reason to paint the nude.

• Titian’s poesie for Philip II set the standard for painting these stories.
• Gods transform themselves to seduce; mortals are transformed to escape or as punishment.
• Many of these paintings were made for private rooms and bedchambers.

Metamorphosis

A change of shape, the theme of Ovid’s poem of about 8 CE and the main source for these paintings.

Poesia

Titian’s word for his mythological paintings for Philip II: painted poems based on Ovid.

Works in this part

• Danaë and the Shower of Gold
• The Rape of Europa
• The Abduction of Ganymede
• Apollo and Daphne
• Diana and Actaeon
• Venus and Adonis
• Venus and Mars
• Pygmalion and Galatea
• Echo and Narcissus
• Venus de Milo

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain