Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Temple of Muses

Mythological Figures and Fables



engraving of astrological zodiac figures emerging from conflagration at the beginning of the universe
The Chaos or the Origin of the World



human trees in back of reclining chimeric beast-humans : 17th c. engraving
Transformation of Cyguns into a Swan and Phaeton's Sisters into poplar trees



engraved battle between swordsman on flying horse and chimeric lion - book illustration
Bellerophon fights the Chimaera



engraved mythological person holds bull's head to the ground
Achelous in the shape of a Bull is vanquished by Hercules



Bernard Picart engraving of seated person playing violin (+ ornate baroque border)
Amphion builds the walls of Thebes by the Music of his Lyre



lyre-playing person rides on stylised fish in the ocean (engraving)
Arion preserved by a Dolphin



book illustration engraving by Bernard Picart of the mythological figure Atlas supporting the starry heavens on his shoulders
Atlas supports the Heavens on his shoulders



b&w figure of winged icarus from mythology plummets out of control to earth
The Fall of Icarus



18th c engraving of bearded merman in the ocean
Glaucus changed into a Sea-God



book illustration of human seated in moonlit clouds above a sleeping human on land
The Moon and Endymion



illustration of stylised ancient sailboat in trouble in big seas
The Dioscuri or Castor and Pollux the Guardians of Mariners



engraving of mythical Ulysses in a ship passes the sirens calling from the shallows
Ulysses and his companions avoid the charms of the Sirens



mythical Hercules wields club against 7-headed hydra beast
Hercules' Combat with the Hydra



man pushes rock up hill while winged monsters impedes the progress (mythological engraving)
Sisyphus's stone



In mythical hell scene, human is bound and rotated on a punishment wheel
Ixion's wheel



Bernard Picart's engraved mythological scene of hell with human misery all around
Hell



Bernard Picart (or Picard) (1673-1733) was a French book illustrator and one of the outstanding engravers from the first decades of the 18th century. His most famous work - see: Designer Religion - was an enormous compendium of the world's religions.

In 'Neueröffneter Musen-Tempel', a collection of mythological fables and stories (most notably from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses') is presented, accompanied by sixty copperplate engravings by Picart. The illustrations are superior in quality, even as they appeared in 1733 in the fading light of the Baroque tradition. The fabulous ornate border patterns lend the compositions something of a formal quality like framed paintings; indeed, Picart drew inspiration for a number of his engravings from mid-17th century works by the Rubens student, Abraham van Diepenbeeck. But the majority of the designs are by Picart himself.

Motives listed for Picart's illustration include: Alcyone, Alpheus, Andromeda, Apollo, Arethusa, Argonauts, Argus, Aristaeus, Artemis, Calais, Cassandra, Castor, Ceyx, Cycnus, Deucalion, Dioscuri, Echo, Enceladus, Endymion, Eos, Eurynome, Giants, Glaucus, Harpies, Heliades, Hera, Hermaphroditus, Hermes, House of Hypnos, Io, Iphis, Leander, Leucothoe, Lycaon, Memnon, Niobe, Niobids, Oeneus, Palladium, Pan, Perseus, Phaethon, Phineus, Polydeuces, Proteus, Pygmalion, Pyrrha, River Gods, Salmacis, Selene, Semele, Syrinx, Tantalus, The Flood, Tithonus, Trojan War, Troy, Underworld, Zetes, Zeus [source]

'The Temple of Muses' was published in France and Germany simultaneously in 1733 and includes captions in English, French, German and Dutch below each illustration. The images above are from a 1754 edition published in Amsterdam.

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