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Topics

Myths and fables

  • Summary
Pandora's Box
© the copyright holder. Image credit: Wolverhampton Arts and Heritage

Pandora's Box

Brian Yale (1936–2009)

Wolverhampton Arts and Heritage

Myths and fables are the earliest forms of literature, and among the most powerful and long lasting. They have therefore long been inspirations for artists. The myths of ancient Greece and Rome in particular are dramatic stories with themes that are still meaningful today, even if we are less familiar with the details.


They illustrated the relationships between mankind and the gods, good and evil, war and peace, love, jealousy and hate.

Read more
They provided explanations for the origins of human behaviour and emotions. Paintings of these subjects were considered the highest form of art until the nineteenth century but required a knowledge of classical literature from the artists and their public. To appreciate them was a sign of culture and education.

Artworks

  • The Toilet of Venus
    The Toilet of Venus Duncan Grant (1885–1978) and Vanessa Bell (1879–1961)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • Orpheus at the Door of the Underworld
    Orpheus at the Door of the Underworld Philip Jones (b.1971)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • Pandora's Box
    Pandora's Box Brian Yale (1936–2009)
    Wolverhampton Art Gallery
  • Bacchanale
    Bacchanale Duncan Grant (1885–1978) and Vanessa Bell (1879–1961)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • Sir Tristram
    Sir Tristram Christopher Le Brun (b.1951)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • The Heroes of Thermopylae
    The Heroes of Thermopylae Patrick Hayman (1915–1988)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • The Wolf and the Lamb
    The Wolf and the Lamb John Bucknell Russell (1819–1893)
    National Trust for Scotland, Haddo House
  • 589 more

Stories

  • A new mythology of Britain

    Amy Jeffs

  • 1545–1546, oil on canvas by Titian (1490–1576)
    Art Matters podcast: an introduction to classical mythology in art

    Ferren Gipson

  • Enchanting friend or fiendish foe? Fairies in Scottish art

    Dawn Geddes

  • Medusa
    Medusa, the gaze and artistic integrity: an interview with Susie MacMurray

    Patricia Yaker Ekall

  • Write on Art: 'Circe' by John William Waterhouse

    Tony Choy

  • 1877, oil on canvas by Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919)
    Evelyn De Morgan: challenging the status quo with mythical women

    Hannah Crichton

  • Witches and wives, goddesses and gorgons: mythological women

    Ana Sampson

  • The Kelpies
    Andy Scott's 'The Kelpies'

    Anthony McIntosh

  • Andromeda: forgotten woman of Greek mythology

    Patricia Yaker Ekall

  • Zeus and Ganymede
    Divine homosexuality: Ganymede and Antinous as queer icons in art

    Ben Gazur

  • Luca Giordano: fame and fortune in Baroque Europe

    Jonathan Hajdamach

  • Other epiphanies: meeting the gods of Greece and Rome

    Ben Gazur

  • Titian's 'Perseus and Andromeda'

    Yuriko Jackall

  • The Unknown: a contemporary giant in an ancient landscape

    Ian McKay

  • What art means to me: the collection of Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston

    Peter Murphy

  • 1985, coloured screen print on paper by Judy Chicago (b.1939)
    Feminine power: goddesses, demons and warriors

    Chloë Ashby

  • John Collier's 'Clytemnestra'

    Kate Banner

  • Tom Charman: a fairy tale in the New Forest

    Sonia Aarons-Green

  • John Duncan's 'The Riders of the Sidhe'

    Anna Robertson

  • Greek myths, homosexuality and universal humanity: the art of Keith Vaughan

    Flora Doble

  • Countryside to urban: myth and magic in Welsh landscapes

    Taylor Edmonds

  • Painting practice: the preparatory drawings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

    Robert Wilkes

  • History, myth and portraiture: Angelica Kauffmann's neoclassicism in Britain

    Tania Adams

  • Abdus Shakoor Shah
    Abdus Shakoor Shah: Gallery Oldham's bright and bold pieces of Bengali culture

    Hannah Josey

  • Mermaids: a queer twist in the tail

    Sacha Coward

  • Centuries of solidarity: Lotto's portrait inspired by Lucretia

    Patricia Yaker Ekall

  • The legend of Semiramis: treacherous seductress or powerful Assyrian queen?

    Costanza Casati

  • Greek gods in art: a tale of entitlement and consent

    Patricia Yaker Ekall

  • The male gaze: the myth of Diana and Endymion

    Stefani Bednarova

  • The Townley Discobolus
    How art reinterprets Greek mythology: from problematic patriarchies to queer perspectives

    Iain Calderwood

  • The Ark of Ceridwen: how neo-druids rocked Pontypridd

    Delyth Badder

  • The naked muse: to see or be seen?

    Kelley Swain

  • Most blessed, most cursed: the duality of Blodeuwedd, Welsh goddess of flowers

    Dan Mitchell

  • Write on Art: Titian's 'Bacchus and Ariadne'

    Maryam Khan

  • The tale of Troy in art

    Tim Cornwell

  • Rethinking Medusa: the 'nasty woman' of mythology

    Patricia Yaker Ekall

  • 'The Lady of Shalott': an Arthurian legend in Cornwall

    Natalie Rigby

  • Diego Velázquez: the captured moment

    Adam Wattam

  • Costume drama: goddess cosplay in the eighteenth century

    Candy Bedworth

  • Divine inspiration: who were the nine Muses of Greek mythology?

    Louisa McKenzie

  • Sidney Herbert Sime: an artist with an inherent bent towards mystery

    Mary Broughton

  • 1606, print etching by Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630) published by Pieter de Jode I
    Changing shapes: the art of Metamorphosis

    Helen Cobby

  • Under the sea: monsters and mythical creatures of the deep

    Victoria Rodrigues O'Donnell

  • Representing Medea: the tale of a mythical murderess

    Lydia Figes

  • Tam o' Shanter: Robert Burns' poem illustrated by Alexander Goudie

    Lydia Figes

  • Antonio Zucchi's works at Nostell Priory

    Tania Adams

  • William Blake: fusing the classical figure, mythology and religion

    Florence Bell

  • Raqib Shaw's 'After Lucas Cranach the Elder'

    Sarah Campbell

  • Write on Art: 'Large Blade Venus' by William Turnbull

    Miranda Black

  • Seren Morgan Jones: reimagining lost Welsh women

    Candy Bedworth

  • Portrait photograph of French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) at Meudon
    Breathing life into clay: Rodin and modern sculpture

    Julia Carver

  • Big-trimmed.jpg
    Art Matters podcast: artists of classic Ladybird books

    Ferren Gipson

  • Art Matters podcast: the magic of fairy tales in art

    Ferren Gipson

  • Watercolour of two pots in the Museo Nacional in Lima, Peru, made by Adela Breton on her tour of South America in 1910
    Digitisation of the Adela Breton Collection at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

    Sue Giles and Valerie Harland

  • Animals of the Chinese zodiac

    Andrew Shore

  • Romantic escape: John Lehmann's Orpheus journal and British Neo-Romantic art

    Peter Lowe

  • J. M. W. Turner and the 'sister arts' – painting and poetry

    Catherine Parry-Wingfield

  • Beyond cute: a brief history of cupids, cherubs and putti in art

    Anne Wallentine

  • Legendary heroes and villains in art

    Ana Sampson

  • Sparking the Gothic imagination: Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and Polidori's 'The Vampyre'

    Andrew Shore

  • Mabel Pakenham-Walsh: activist, storyteller and craftsperson

    Alice Briggs

Learning resources

  • colourinclassical-thumbnail-1.jpg
    Audio
    Rediscovering colour in classical sculptures
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
  • PKA_HOS_HF_2018_92-003.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'Clytie' by William Henry Rinehart
    • KS5 (ENG)
      KS5 (NI)
      CfE Sen. (SCO)
      KS5 (WAL)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (WAL)
  • GL_GM_S_235-005.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'The Harpy Celaeno' by Mary Pownall
    • KS5 (ENG)
      KS5 (NI)
      CfE Sen. (SCO)
      KS5 (WAL)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (WAL)
  • nsc-oic-pps3-001-1.jpg
    Activity
    Draw a surprise surreal monster
    • KS1 (ENG)
      KS1 (NI)
      CfE L1 (SCO)
      PS2 (WAL)
      KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • GMIII_MCAG_1934_401-001.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: a lady, a curse and tales of King Arthur
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • gmiii-mcag-1934-401-001-1.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'The Lady of Shalott' by William Holman Hunt
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      SEND (ENG)
      SEND (NI)
      ASN (SCO)
      SEND (WAL)
  • hsw-mys-2007-0314-001-1.jpg
    Activity
    Creative storytelling with Mythstories
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
  • LLR_AWC_0642-001.jpg
    Round-up
    Storytelling resources
    • KS1 (ENG)
      KS1 (NI)
      CfE L1 (SCO)
      PS2 (WAL)
      KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (WAL)
  • WMR_RAA_03_1494-003.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'The Farnese Hercules' after Glycon and Lysippos
    • KS5 (ENG)
      KS5 (NI)
      CfE Sen. (SCO)
      KS5 (WAL)
      KS4 (ENG)
      KS4 (NI)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (WAL)
  • FK2_GB_S002_023.jpg
    Lesson plan
    'The Kelpies': ancient myth in modern art
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)

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® is a registered trade mark of the Public Catalogue Foundation.
Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601).