#the sun is an icarus reference... cause they dressed up as icarus...

[sir-raz]

i have cat-ified them

[bailey-reaper]

Can you write about Klint Vamp Zieks telling Lady B that he’s a vampire? There’s never enough content for these two, probably because DGS refused to tell us anything about Lady Baskerville.

The Lord's Secret

Notes: I can certainly try, anon. That said, I'd highly recommend @ziekerville when it comes to all things Klint & Lady B related!

At this stage, I still haven't settled on a name for Lady Baskerville (though I must admit I'm increasingly smitten with the first name 'Constance', though perhaps I should abstain from it given that it is also shared by Lady Chatterley!) –– so, for now, Klint refers to her as 'my Lady' simply to spare me having to actually decide on an appropriate name for her!

Content Warnings: fluff; vampires; melodramatic, yearning Victorians; Tia taking liberties with everything as usual...

A full moon rose up over the Devonshire moors that surrounded the Baskerville Estate; the house was dark and peaceful, for all who dwelt within had retired to bed some hours ago. Sadly, that peace had yet to visit the young Lady Baskerville.

For several hours now she had restlessly tossed to and fro in her bed, trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. In truth, her mind was preoccupied with other matters that made it nigh impossible to even contemplate sleep.

Ever since she met him, the handsome Lord of the van Zieks family had been haunting her thoughts; not in a malicious sense, no, in fact, she was so deeply smitten that it kept her awake thinking about him.

He had an undeniable, irresistible charm about him; it complimented his infectious smile and sunny demeanour perfectly. If he was the sun, then she was undoubtedly Icarus...

A heavy sigh escaped her as she laid facing her room; sleep refused to come, her thoughts were too loud and busy. She looked at the dark, vague lumps that were her furniture all neatly arranged, and at the moonlight that spilled a small silver square on the floor next to her bed. How long would she be up like this?

Suddenly, she heard a light thunk! at her window-- followed by another and another, it sounded like acorns or conkers being thrown against the glass. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to investigate-- to her surprise, she saw the red jacketed lord of the van Zieks family sitting on the oak tree that stood tall outside her window.

He waved at her, having finally captured her attention.

"Lord van Zieks....??" she whispered, after lifting up the window, "What on earth are you doing here, sir?"

"Forgive the unsociable hour, my lady," he said with a smile, "May I come in?"

"Oh..." a warmth spread over her; the idea of allowing a man into her chambers was quite scandalous, if her father knew he'd be furious... but her fondness for this particular lord won the day and she nodded, "Yes, very well, please come in."

With extraordinary athletic grace, he leapt from the branch on to the window ledge and stepped inside. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, "Thank you. my lady."

His lips were cool against her skin, or perhaps it was simply that she was so flustered by his presence that everything else felt cold in comparison, "... What... um what brings you here?" she asked while donning a dressing gown so that she was at least somewhat dressed for the occasion of having a guest.

"I've come to make a confession, dear lady, and I only hope that you will hear it."

She sat on her bed, "A confession? This sound rather serious, my lord, what on earth is it?" and clearly it must have been urgent, given the hour of night.

"I find myself lost in day dreams of you, my thoughts are so often occupied by you that I wondered for a while if I had some sort of fever, and perhaps I do," Klint smiled somewhat bashfully, "It seems, my lady, that I have fallen quite head over heels in love with you and I would like nothing more than to court you."

"Oh..." she covered her mouth and began to wonder if this was some sort of dream she'd finally slipped into, "... Lord van Zieks I am... stunned... flattered, but stunned."

"... Well, I'll have to hope my next confession does not cause you to faint."

"There's more?"

He nodded, "You see... I am not all together human... well, truth be told I'm not human at all."

"What... what on earth do you mean, sir?"

Klint knelt before her and held her hand, "Do you think you can find it in your heart to love a creature of darkness? For you see, my lady, I am a vampire... my family are members of the vampiric aristocracy. I shouldn't even be telling you this, but I find myself so deeply in love with you that I wish to share my all."

"A... vampire?" her eyes widened as she looked down at the Lord kneeling before her. In truth she had always thought that he, and his little brother, were on the pale side; practically waxen, in fact, but she had also put that down to spending so much time in London where the smog no doubt covered the sun.

"Such... things are real?" now she was beginning to seriously doubt her level of consciousness, but he had kissed her hand earlier and that had felt real; and the blush on her cheeks was hot enough to be real.

"They are indeed, my lady, I am sure that must come as a shock..."

It was shocking, and yet it seemed unimportant to some degree, "... And yet, you are as polite and charming as any human I've ever met -- perhaps more so... if you are a vampire, sir, then it seems to have made no difference upon your character."

Klint smiled gently, "... You flatter me, my lady."

"... I do not mind if you are a creature of the night, as you put it... I have found my thoughts similarly occupied by you, and if you share that feeling with me then I should like to give myself up to it."

He stood up and drew her into his arms, lifting her up and spinning her around, "You truly are a most radiant and wonderful woman, my lady. Thank you. Might I kiss you?"

She nodded, then leaned over from her vantage point aloft in his arms to cup his face and press her lips to his.

[space--cadet-glow]

Theory: The Odd Headcanons of Vaati, Part Forty-nine: Delusions of Grandeur

Vaati eventually becomes so far gone that the Figurines call his final form an "it" instead of a "he". Just exactly when and how much did his own ego get the best of him?

It has occurred to me that it's not so much his ego by itself that doomed him, perhaps... There IS a thing called... "Delusions of grandeur". In which a person believes themself to be 5,000% more important/better than they really are. This seems to fit Vaati's mindset... But just how well? Did Vaati really suffer from delusions of grandeur?

So, what are the criteria for it to be delusions of "grandeur" in particular? Includes exaggerated beliefs of... 1. Self-worth 2. Power/knowledge 3. Identity 4. Divinity

1. Self-worth Vaati definitely believed himself to be better than everyone else, especially in his Hylian form and onwards. But what of Vaati's quote about his Minish self? "A meek, miniscule nothing"... That doesn't fit... Does it? If he believed himself to be more important/better than he really was, then why use THAT sentence above to refer to himself? ...Because that's what he WANTED TO CHANGE. It was the "MEEK, MINISCULE NOTHING" that HAD the DELUSIONS in the first place!

2. Power/knowledge Together because of the infamous "Knowledge is power" thing... 'Power', in the sense that he wanted to be above everyone else ("transformed, perfect"...). And 'knowledge' in the sense that in order to accomplish everything he wanted... He had to leave Ezlo. To leave Ezlo's guidance and teachings. To forge his OWN knowledge, on his OWN terms. The "delusional" part isn't the fact that he wanted to capture his own knowledge... It's the fact he had a PERFECTLY GOOD TEACHER RIGHT THEN-AND-THERE TO HELP HIM. And he STILL left it all behind!

3. Identity The "mask". Oh god, the mask. The mask of a Hylian. Of a Demon. Of a ball of sludge. Of a furious flying eyeball abomination. It all leads back to that sad, sad little Minish. That "meek, miniscule nothing" who wanted "none" to "stop him". To him, Minish Vaati basically never existed. His hatred remained (Vaati's Wrath, anyone?), but the appearance didn't. Vaati pretty much was playing an extremely prolonged game of dress-up.

4. Divinity Do I even have to quote it? "And with the third toll of the bell, I will become like a god!" Right there. "Like a god". A two-inch tall Minish decided he was going to become divine. That's the greatest delusion of them all!

"Delusions of grandeur" match up incredibly well to Vaati and his twisted thoughts. AND- there's something funny about all of this, too. Strangely enough, a reported possible cause of these kinds of delusions is a Vitamin B-12 deficiency. Why do I bring this up? Because it goes hand-in-hand with anemia, which I HAVE theorised Vaati to have before a few times. It all comes full circle.

Vaati is a Machiavellian narcissist with a few psychopathic tendencies (as I've theorised before in Part Seven of my "Irony of Vaati" theory series). And this all stems from his self-hatred-turned-inflated-ego.

...There's a word for that. "Hubris". Excessive pride or self-confidence. Did he, much like in the Greek legend about Icarus, fly too close to the sun?

...Wait a second... Oh, yeah... The Light Force... Huh.

Something's really up with Vaati now...

[viir-banalras]

Share Three Songs That Remind You of Your OC(s)

I was tagged by @drellvhen to post three songs that fit with my OC, but considering I’m self-indulgent and love talking about my children I’m going to do Sa’lyn and Farilis like usual. Anyone can do this! I’m not sure who to tag, but if you do it tag me!! I’m always looking for music recs just ask anyone.

Sa’lyn Istimaethoriel Lavellan

Dark Times // The Weeknd ft. Ed Sheeran

Waking up, half past five Blood on pillow and one bruised eye Drunk too much, you know what I'm like But you should've seen the other guy This ain't the right time for you to fall in love with me Baby I'm just being honest And I know my lies could not make you believe We're running in circles that's why In my dark times I'll be going back to the street Promising everything I do not mean In my dark times, baby this is all I could be Don't think my mother could love me for me In my dark times, in my dark times

I really feel that this song represents Sa’lyn for who she is - she’s an assassin, and will put that before much of anything. While she does indulge on small, side romances and one night stands, she will never stay in one place - or with anyone - for too long. She doesn’t even believe it to be for the best, to her it’s just what it has to be.

Icarus // Bastille

Look who makes their own bed Lies right down within it And what will you have left? Out on the front doorstep Drinking from a paper cup You won't remember this Living beyond your years Acting out all their fears You feel it in your chest 

Sa’lyn was - and will always be - an Icarus. She’s meant to be a tragedy in the root of it all. Her constant desire for vengeance and to do what is right by her own judgement ends up being her downfall. She went to the Conclave to spy in the place of her sister, and it led her to becoming the Inquisitor; something she was not keen on becoming in the first place. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, considering he time of being Inquisitor is filled with similar decisions and all too familiar outcomes. She lets her own self be her downfall, and thus - Icarus.

float // EDEN

But I can float too, and I don't ask for much from you But maybe that's too much, too soon So I, keep rolling through the blackout No fires without some fallout Made peace out of the pieces Now I can't take it back now, no But I keep on track now up Yeah, that's all of it I gave up my youth for this 'cause I wanted it, and If you think that I need you then you're out of your head But I want you

So bring me down and drown me out I'll be waiting here when you're ready And I'll lay me down, unfinished now It hurts

So when you coming home? I could be what you need, girl If you want me to You know what they say, bruh That love gon' come back to you

So EDEN is shamelessly my favourite artist so ofc I gotta throw one of his songs in there- but for good reason. The lyrics aren’t so much the main focus as is the buildup and full out ambiance of the song. After the first in between the verses, it just has an very... rough beat, like a heart in a chest. To me, that screams Sa’lyn in her raw. The calm, but that honest thumping in her chest when she’s alone in her own thoughts. That everything she’s amounted will - in some fashion - come back to her. This is also my go to song for writing her in FiGG.

Farilis Istimaethoriel Lavellan

Crossfire, Part II // Stephen ft. Talib Kweli & KillaGraham

Walk by her in the path of righteousness I walk higher, toss liars In the pit of hell, caught in the crossfire Caught fire, from the big guns, these is not revolvers Violence only creates confusion, it ain't a problem solver Let's go, my skin is my dress code Just know, I need a personal Jesus I'm in Depeche Mode My best show is when the bullets hit the flesh slow This ain't a movie, dog, you know it when your chest explodes I'd trade my luck to know Why he's caught in the crossfire And I'm here waking up To the sun and the sound of birds Society's anxiety Deprived of all that we're blessed with We just can't get enough, no

One of the most critical factors for Farilis is the fact she has always been protected by Sa’lyn. She herself is very powerful and capable, but Sa’lyn projects her own fears onto Farilis. This is the only thing Farilis has really known since their father’s passing and her own self coming into her magic. She has been sheltered, and often wonders why when she is her own person with her own skills and capabilities. When Sa’lyn becomes Inquisitor, she explores her newfound freedom more now that her twin has turned her gaze elsewhere.

Broken Roots // Michl

Blank faces Here we are staring at these Blank pages How did the plans we drew Disappear in thin air? Now all that's left are Two blank faces I know we let gold fade to black Give me time enough to bring us back 'Cause I've been pouring my whole life in you Trying to resurrect the love we grew Yeah, we're both confused But I'll keep pouring my whole life into These broken roots

This song really does hit close to home. While I try not to involve a character’s romance too much into their own development, Solas leaving Farilis is a huge factor for her. For someone who never cast a second glance at most people, it was damn near gravitational for their romance to take the path that it did. She tries everything to salvage it (and who she was) afterwards, but to no avail. She does eventually find herself, and grows into someone she didn’t anticipate. Kind of a spark, if you will.

wrong // EDEN

But I could be more Isn't there more? Don't you dream of forgetting this? Have we forgotten what we want? Counting the wars and broken bones

Haven't we lost enough already? Isn't this more than what it's worth? Have we forgotten where we came from? Long way from laying in the dirt And if I can only dream of up from down there God, help me, I'll be gone Have I lost sight of everything I've worked for? Did I get this all wrong?

Another EDEN song? Of course! I reference these things like crazy! I love this guy! Point being - this song screams Farilis to me. The a capella just brings out the doubt that surrounds Farilis when her world is turned upside-down. She wants to know and do what’s best for her, Sa’lyn, and her people considering Solas’ intentions. Where she was once proud of herself, she has been humbled and understands that now she needs to find out who she wants to be.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

I had a lot of time on the car ride from G-Fest, so here’s a list of all the major changes/additions in the Kong: Skull Island novelization.

We spend more time in the car with Brooks and Randa before they arrive at the U.S. Capitol. Among the sights they comment on are a long, unruly line at a gas station and a movie theater marquee modified to read Deliverance from Nixon!

Randa has leverage over Senator Willis in the form of the “drug-taking and decadent parties” they both enjoyed in college.

The senator’s reaction to the photo of the Castle Bravo test: “That creature has never been proven to be anything other than a whale blown up by the blast. It’s a fairytale.”

Weaver backstory: she had a demanding but loving father who died when she was sixteen; she describes her house as a “benevolent dictatorship.” Her use of her camera as a metaphorical barrier from the events around her is a recurring theme.

Jerry, who tips Weaver off to the Skull Island expedition over the phone, is presented as an international man of mystery, a European journalist with vast connections and an impenetrable past.

Conrad left the British Special Forces after a mission from the Malaysian government. He and five others were tasked with rescuing Jenny, the seven-year-old daughter of a Malaysian woman and a British embassy worker, from a “rogue unit” of Indonesian soldiers. As they approached the border, an ambush killed two of his men and Jenny; when he examined her wound, he realized that it was from a sniper rifle. They were not meant to succeed.

Randa had been drawn to the intersection of science and myth since childhood. As a soldier stationed in North Africa and Italy during World War II, he earned the nickname Prof, spending his downtime researching the history and local legends of the places his unit visited. That interest became a full-blown obsession once he was sent to the Pacific theater.

Randa is furious at Weaver’s presence on the expedition; she got the job without a background check after Chim, a journalist “in Randa’s pocket,” dropped out at the last minute.

There’s a clear attraction between Weaver and Conrad that starts when they’re both hiding from soldiers while sneaking around Athena and grows throughout the book. Unlike Mako and Raleigh in the Pacific Rim novelization, they never kiss, but in the “post-credits” scene, Conrad narrates, “They both carried wounds that had been tended and dressed. The deeper scars would be kept for themselves. Maybe they’d even help each other tend them. He hoped so, and he thought Weaver thought so too, but recent events made such considerations seem petty. After what they’d been through together, going out for a drink seemed so… mannered.”

When talking about the mysteries of Skull Island, Randa says, “There’s even talk of a movie crew disappearing here in thirty-three.”

Following Kong’s demolition of the expedition’s helicopters, Conrad is attacked by a sixty-foot snake while trying to get to higher ground. It nearly constricts him to death, but he’s able to kill it with his knife.

Kong uses dirt to put out the fires caused by the helicopters crashes.

Conrad observes the tracks of a feline or canine he estimates to be at least one-and-a-half meters long, although it does not appear.

Conrad’s party encounters a carnivorous plant with several dead animals inside, including “a wasp the size of Weaver’s hand.”

The Iwi told Marlow that the expedition was coming two days beforehand.

The creatures Kong defends Skull Island from are more diverse than just Skullcrawlers. The Iwi paintings depict “[g]iant reptilian beasts, one with three heads. A crocodile fifty feet long. Snake-like monsters, slinking from holes in the ground and snapping towards the sun. Web-footed creatures, spikes along their backs spearing bloodied human shapes, diving into the ocean surrounding the island.”

Marlow calls the largest Skullcrawler (Skull Crawler in the book) the Skull Devil.

Skullcrawlers can mimic human cries; Gunpei was killed by one after he and Marlow thought they heard an Iwi child scream in the distance and went to rescue them.

San and Brooks try to steal a sample of a mysterious liquid from a well inside the Wanderer. They’re caught in the act immediately and flee with the Iwi in pursuit, leading to a more dramatic departure from the village that almost ends in violence. Marlow persuades them to let the Grey Fox leave.

The Spore Mantis is much more aggressive towards Chapman. As in the movie, the arrival of the Skullcrawler causes it to leave, but here Packard is on the radio with Chapman when he is killed. Packard decides not to tell his men about it.

One of the songs Slivko plays on his record player is “Fly Me to the Moon,” giving the book a second (perhaps unintentional) Neon Genesis Evangelion reference.

The Grey Fox is attacked by an Icarus Follum who goes after Slivko twice. (Weaver quips afterwards, “He really has the hots for you,” and I could feel Gareth Edwards nodding in approval as I read it.) San saves him with the katana, and Conrad shoots the monster in the eye.

Packard watches Kong trigger a rock slide to bury a Skullcrawler hole.

Marlow’s eulogy for Nieves is: “He seemed like a good administrator.”

During the boneyard battle, Marlow stabs the Skullcrawler in what he thinks is its eye, but then it opens up the real pair and knocks him aside. San notices that they have gills, indicating that they could leave Skull Island and menace the outside world. Conrad throws his father’s lighter instead of Weaver.

“King Kong” is used several times later in the book.Cole gets the Skull Devil’s attention with a grenade launcher. Instead of being tail-whipped into a cliff, his sacrifice play with the grenades works perfectly, but it merely stuns the monster.

All of Weaver’s film cartridges are ruined by her fall into the water during the final battle.

Brooks explicitly offers Weaver and Conrad jobs at Monarch in their final scene.

None of Toho’s monsters appear – I assume that Titan Books didn’t think the licensing fees were worth it. Instead, Brooks’ slideshow of horrors is as follows: “Some of them were recognizable – he saw a Kong-like figure battling a giant winged beast. Others were far more mysterious. A huge lizard on its hind legs, at war with a giant dragonfly. A hammer-headed beast in combat with a many-tailed, skeletal bird.”

Just before Marlow reunites with his family, he recalls a night with Gunpei where they each talk about their most frightening moment on Skull Island following a Skull Crawler attack on the village. Gunpei’s answer: “The one just before [Kong] appeared, when I almost murdered my best friend.”

But don’t let this list dissuade you from buying the book if you were on the fence about it; it’s a better read than the Godzilla or Pacific Rim novelizations, and a true list of changes would be almost impossible to catalog. 

[arts-dance]

6 Greek Myths You Should Know to Understand Art History

Christy Kuesel Jan 17, 2020

Raoul Dufy Léda et le Cygne , 1926  BAILLY GALLERY

Greek myths have captivated the imaginations of artists since ancient sculptors created gods and goddesses out of marble. The trials of ancient Greek heroes and monsters have served as inspiration for

Renaissance masters, Surrealists , and conceptual artists alike. Although no unified telling of Greek mythology exists, sources like Homer’s Iliad and Ovid’s Metamorphoses provide an alternate history of humanity, from the creation of the first woman to the downfall of Troy. Below, we detail six myths essential to understanding the Greek mythology that has been woven into art history.

Pandora’s Box

Pandora, the first woman on Earth, was created in an act of vengeance. Zeus, the king of the sky and the gods, was angry with the Titan Prometheus for creating man in the image of the gods and providing them with fire that he stole from heaven. Zeus ordered the god Hephaestus to create Pandora to exact revenge on Prometheus. Pandora was placed into an idyllic version of Earth, and Zeus gave her a box that he told her never to open. Pandora couldn’t resist the temptation and opened the box, releasing a score of plagues into the world, like disease, old age, and death.French painter Odilon Redon was fascinated by women from classical mythology, and he painted Pandora several times. In a painting from ca. 1914, Pandora appears nude and surrounded by scores of bright flowers, yet she is intently focused on the small box in her hands. Redon painted the work in the years leading up to World War I, potentially drawing a parallel between the horrors inflicted by the opening of her box and those of the war. Pandora’s influence reaches into contemporary art as well; Filipino artist David Medalla, for example, created Cosmic Pandora Micro-Box (2010) by collecting objects he found during a residency in Brazil, like socks, a bar of soap, and oyster shells. By linking ordinary objects and mythology, he questions how pedestrian items can be as impactful as the divine contents of Pandora’s box.

Perseus and Andromeda

Perseus is one of the foremost heroes of Greek mythology, known primarily for slaying Medusa and Cetus, the sea monster that guarded the princess Andromeda. Queen Cassiopeia, who ruled a mythical version of Ethiopia with her husband, boasted that she and her daughter Andromeda were as beautiful as the Nereids, or sea nymphs. This remark offended Poseidon, god of the sea, and in an act of vengeance against Cassiopeia, he set Cetus loose on the kingdom. After consulting an oracle, Andromeda’s father King Cepheus tied her to a rock on the shore, sacrificing her to appease Poseidon. Perseus then slayed Cetus and made Andromeda his wife. Perhaps the most famous depictions of this myth are by Peter Paul Rubens Flemish, 1577–1640

Peter Paul Rubens, one of the great Flemish artists of the 17th century, was a prominent figure in the Catholic church, the royal courts, and commercial …, who returned to the subject several times. In Perseus frees Andromeda (1620–1622), we see Perseus approaching a chained Andromeda, aided by several putti, or cherubs. The slain Cetus is visible in the lower left corner. Andromeda’s plight also inspired artists centuries later:

Frederic Leighton depicted her twisted beneath Cetus as Perseus pierces him with an arrow; while David Gascoyne appropriated the tale in a surrealist take where Andromeda’s head is perched atop a tennis racket.

The Minotaur

The Minotaur is a half-human, half-bull monster born to Queen Pasiphae of Crete. Daedalus, King Minos’s prized inventor, created a labyrinth to conceal the beast, which demanded a payment of seven young men and seven virgins (accounts vary on how frequent that payment was required, ranging from annually to every nine years). The Greek hero Theseus eventually slayed the Minotaur, but the mythical creature and its symbolism of forbidden desire, lust, and greed lives on. Pablo Picasso became particularly interested in the Minotaur during a period of personal turmoil—when his marriage to Olga Khokhlova was in trouble, and his mistress at the time, Marie-Thérèse Walter, was pregnant. However, his frequent depictions of the monster also coincided with rising political tensions in 1930s Europe. The artist connected the mythical creature with the bullfighting of his Spanish heritage, producing etchings like Minotaurmachy (1935), which depicts the Minotaur leaning toward a young girl holding a candle. The work served as source imagery for Guernica (1937), which also features a bull. Other artists embraced the Minotaur, too:

André Breton and Pierre Mabille published a magazine entitled Minotaure in the 1930s, while Jackson Pollock immortalized the beast’s mother Pasiphaë in his 1943 work by the same name. In Leonora Carrington ’s And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur! (1953), a robed bull figure sits at a table, surrounded by two children and a ghostly figure. The Minotaur has also been used to more moralizing ends:

Symbolist painter George Frederic Watts used the monster in an 1885 work in which the Minotaur gazes out at the sea, waiting for his annual feast to arrive. In his depiction of an expectant beast, Watts invokes male lust, born out of concerns over child prostitution in Britain.

Icarus

Aside from trapping the Minotaur in his labyrinth, Daedalus is also known for the tragic death of his son Icarus, who has inspired countless songs , poems , and artworks. To escape from Crete, Daedalus fashioned wings for himself and his son. Despite warnings from his father, Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax holding his wings together melted, causing him to fall into the ocean and drown. The story is often told as a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of excessive pride and ambition. The most famous depiction of Icarus by far is Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (ca. 1555), which depicts a falling Icarus masked within a larger scene of domestic life on the seaside. The viewer can only see Icarus’s flailing legs disappearing; he is entirely ignored by all the other depicted figures. The oil painting is attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, though some experts doubt its authenticity due to eccentricities in the work itself and the lack of a precise date or provenance for the painting. 

Henri Matisse created a more lighthearted depiction of Icarus in his cut-out from the illustrated book Jazz (1947). There, Matisse embraced his new invention—paper cut-outs—and snipped away at sheets of red, black, yellow, and blue paper to create the image of a man dancing among the stars.

Leda and the Swan

Leda and the Swan is perhaps one of the most perplexing tales in Greek mythology to the modern reader. It is also one of the most prominent myths that echoes across centuries of art history. In the myth, Zeus takes the form of a swan to rape Leda, the queen of Sparta, resulting in the birth of Helen. The story becomes even more distressing when considering that Helen ran off with, or was abducted by, the Trojan prince Paris, inciting the Trojan War. The image of woman and bird, and the destruction it would bring, has captivated various artists over the years.

Leonardo da Vinci  painted two versions of Leda and the Swan, yet both have been lost. Other versions by Leonardo’s students survive, all depicting a demure, nude woman holding a swan; several preparatory sketches by the master himself still exist . Around 1880,Paul Cézanne created his own Leda and the Swan, depicting a blonde woman staring at a swan biting her hand, a look of ambivalence upon her face. French avant-garde artist Marie Laurencin shows a contemplative Leda dressed in pink, leaning over a black railing to pet the bird. Cy Twombly put his own Abstract Expressionist take on the tale, creating a maniacal mess of crayon, pencil, and paint, with some discernible elements, like hearts and a penis.

Achilles

Achilles arose as a hero of the Trojan War, leading the Greeks through a 10-year siege of Troy. One of his most notable feats is killing Hector to avenge the death of his supposed lover Patroclus. Achilles eventually falls victim to a prophecy foretelling his death at Troy; in most versions of the story, the god Apollo guides the arrow of the Trojan prince Paris to Achilles’s heel, his only vulnerable spot. His story was central to Homer’s Iliad, and his feats of heroism, as well as his deeply human tragedy, have kept the story alive.

Barnett Newman was particularly inspired by Greek mythology; he often used titles from the Bible or antiquity, and once wrote a letter to Clement Greenberg defending the Greek style and figure, writing , “It was the Greeks who invented the idea of beauty. Before their time a work of art was concerned with the problem of meaning and was a visible symbol of hieratic thought.” Newman’s admiration of Greek civilization is particularly evident in Achilles (1952), which depicts a red vertical stripe surrounded by brown. The red is most likely a reference to the armor Hephaestus created for Achilles to wear into battle. Twombly also created his own abstract version  of the Greek tragedy in Fifty Days at Iliam: Shades of Achilles, Patroclus and Hector (1978). A more traditional take on Achilles’s story exists in Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus (1760–1763) by Gavin Hamilton  ; in the work, Achilles is draped over a ghostly white Patroclus, pushing away the other Greek soldiers.

Andrea Mary Marshall ’s 2015 Self Portrait as Achilles pictures a woman stepping into the shell of the Greek hero; she hunches away from the camera, showing the viewer bruises up and down her back. Her right hand claps an arrow aimed at her foot, alluding to the myth of the Achilles heel. Christy Kuesel is an Editorial Intern at Artsy.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-6-greek-myths-understand-art-history