A new series idea for Moments in Greek Mythology, I look at a few examples of stuff that is inspired by Greek mythology. Then I describe the creator, the myth it's inspired from, and then give my general impressions of the overall work. (In my typical snarky commentary of course, this still is MIGM after all)
Shhhh... Zeus is going to rape you after he finishes painting pretty butterflies
Our first painting comes from an Italian painter not named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Dosso Dossi. (Yeah that doesn't flow as good as Leonardo) He was born in the village of San Giovanni del Dosso and was part of the Ferrara School of Painting. His name was actually a pseudonym, much like the great American author Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens or most professional wrestlers, and his real name was actually Giovanni di Niccolo de Luteri. (I can see why he decided to have a pseudonym, think how long the signature would be!)
Not much is know about his early life or training, his father was a Bursar, a financial administrator, for the Dukes of Ferrara. He could of trained with Lorenzo Costa locally or went to Mantua where he was known to be in during 1512. (He was born in 1490 by the way)
Now back then, being an artist was considered a viable job by parents and not some useless hobby that cartoons like to use as a device in creating conflict between the artistic son and his parents who want practical talent out of their kid.
Any who, the reason why this was a lucrative job was that the kid wasn't going to be some starving artist like Stephen Dedalus was because the people giving the art commissions were the royalty of the land. To be specific, Dosso would spend his remaining three decades of life working for the Dukes Alfonso I and Ercole II d'Este, eventually becoming the principal Court Artist. (So no he wouldn't be starving like David Gilmour in the mid-60s)
Now for the work itself, it is titled Jupiter, Mercury, and Virtue which was painted in 1524 and tells a story about you guessed it; Jupiter, Mercury, and Virtue. The story is a bit obscure, but from what I've heard from using the Google it goes like this:
Virtue and Fortune got in this quarrel; distressed, Virtue set off to Jupiter to ask for his aid, but she was stopped by Mercury who told her that the king was busy. It turns out being busy was that the Lord of the Sky was painting wings on butterflies and making cucumbers blossom. (I didn't know that they did blossom)
In this painting, Dosso sets up the scene where Mercury prevents Virtue as Jupiter paints pretty butterflies though this could have been just a way to get chicks who liked the sensitive type. The figures are done in that typical Renaissance style, bringing a more realistic humanistic approach in painting people. The background gives the viewer a sense of depth which was also a major innovation that the Renaissance brought back to painting.
Like a manga, the artist wants us to look at the painting from right to left and then leave us fixated at the figure of Jupiter. Now this is probably not a surprise, but the figure of Jupiter might actually be a self portrait of Dosso; however, like Stan Lee in basically every Marvel film ever created, artists liked to make small cameos in their works.
So what do I think about this painting? I like it, the scene is portrayed well if again look at from right to left and the qualities of the overall work is what I enjoy most out of High Renaissance paintings. Plus in researching this painting, I found a nice little story that I never heard about. Then again, like Plato's Atlantis, it might have been some fabricated story, like any form of media that has told me that creationism is true or that the Easter Bunny.
Your helmet is so big!
Next up is Titian the Venetian and his work Venus, Mars, and Cupid which sounds like a cheap porno from the 70s that the Snob would review if there was such a thing as Greek Mythsploitation. Born in either 1488/90 as Tiziano Vecelli, but simply known in English as Titian; he would become the most important member of the 16th century Venetian School of art.
At the age of 10-12, he and his brother Francesco were sent to their Uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship. They found their masters in Gentile Bellini and then later his brother Giovanni Bellini, who were at the time the leading artists in Venice. So this is like learning how to play the guitar by Hendrix or learning music from Bach; clearly these two apprentices were destined for success.
Eventually he became an assistant to fellow upcoming artist Giorgione, but as soon as contemporary critics began lauding Titian's work over his peer, a rivalry soon began ala Ash and Gary. Over the time in his early career he copied the subjects of Giorgione, but eventually would break into his on and become the premier master of Venice.
After his rival died in 1510 at the age of 32 and Giovanni soon afterwards in 1516, Titian found himself unrivaled in the Venetian School. This period between 1516-1530 is considered Titian's period of mastery and maturity; this was Beethoven in his prime, this was Muhammad Ali in his prime, this was Kurt Angle at his best! And this fresco was done at the very end of this period.
Venus, Mars, and Cupid is a scene of passion between the goddess of lust and the god of war with the god of love watching like Bluto. Again it is done in that humanistic style and having background present some depth, but unlike the Dosso's work, its obviously more erotic.
There is that classical passion going on this work, as Mars holds his woman and while kissing seems to be trying to get some shall we say, "stimulation" our of her. The scene is obviously based on the much talked about affair between the goddess Venus and the god Mars much to the chagrin of Greek Mythology's Quasimodo, Hephaestus. (Technically Vulcan if we are using the Roman names) Though funnily enough, this affair was about as transparent as Rob Halford's sexuality.
Anyway my thoughts on this painting? I find it a good representation of why Titian is considered an artistic master of the Renaissance, though there are better paintings to show this. It portrays eroticism that I haven't seen since... wait I have an account on Deviantart.
Thank god for conveniently long hair!
And now the final painting in this experimental blog is one that anyone who took an art history class in High School would know. The Birth of Venus is considered the masterpiece of Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, but we know him better as Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli was such a master artist that it is amazing why we didn't have a fifth member of the TMNT named after him.
Born in the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence, Botticelli became an apprentice at the age of 14 to the painter Fra' Filippo Lippi and a lot of Botticelli's early works have been attributed to his master. Influenced by the monumentality of the works of Masaccio and it was from his master that he learned a more intimate and detailed matter of painting. In other words, Botticelli was pulling a Samurai Jack and learning from multiple sources to become a master artist.
In 1486, Botticelli created this masterpiece above us, The Birth of Venus, which captures the mythological birth of Venus from the sea and her landing in Cyprus. The figure of Venus is of course the center of this entire work; almost framed in by the figures around her representing the Graces on the right and the wind who blows more hot air than a DC Lobbyist.
Venus undoubtedly represents the ideal woman, like Marilyn Monroe in the 50s or Angelina Jolie today, and shows that men still liked blondes back then. The painting isn't as realistic as the other two examples because that style took a couple of more decades to develop.
What do I think about this painting? Well considering its position as a masterpiece of the Renaissance I would say that I give it that, but its not one of my favorites. I don't really like the style and much prefer the later paintings in the High Renaissance than the early ones like this. Anyway, this is where this new blog ends, feedback would be appreciated and maybe I'll do a few more of these.
No I don't know what they are saying, it just came up when I searched "Birth of Venus song"
Shhhh... Zeus is going to rape you after he finishes painting pretty butterflies
Our first painting comes from an Italian painter not named after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Dosso Dossi. (Yeah that doesn't flow as good as Leonardo) He was born in the village of San Giovanni del Dosso and was part of the Ferrara School of Painting. His name was actually a pseudonym, much like the great American author Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens or most professional wrestlers, and his real name was actually Giovanni di Niccolo de Luteri. (I can see why he decided to have a pseudonym, think how long the signature would be!)
Not much is know about his early life or training, his father was a Bursar, a financial administrator, for the Dukes of Ferrara. He could of trained with Lorenzo Costa locally or went to Mantua where he was known to be in during 1512. (He was born in 1490 by the way)
Now back then, being an artist was considered a viable job by parents and not some useless hobby that cartoons like to use as a device in creating conflict between the artistic son and his parents who want practical talent out of their kid.
Any who, the reason why this was a lucrative job was that the kid wasn't going to be some starving artist like Stephen Dedalus was because the people giving the art commissions were the royalty of the land. To be specific, Dosso would spend his remaining three decades of life working for the Dukes Alfonso I and Ercole II d'Este, eventually becoming the principal Court Artist. (So no he wouldn't be starving like David Gilmour in the mid-60s)
Now for the work itself, it is titled Jupiter, Mercury, and Virtue which was painted in 1524 and tells a story about you guessed it; Jupiter, Mercury, and Virtue. The story is a bit obscure, but from what I've heard from using the Google it goes like this:
Virtue and Fortune got in this quarrel; distressed, Virtue set off to Jupiter to ask for his aid, but she was stopped by Mercury who told her that the king was busy. It turns out being busy was that the Lord of the Sky was painting wings on butterflies and making cucumbers blossom. (I didn't know that they did blossom)
In this painting, Dosso sets up the scene where Mercury prevents Virtue as Jupiter paints pretty butterflies though this could have been just a way to get chicks who liked the sensitive type. The figures are done in that typical Renaissance style, bringing a more realistic humanistic approach in painting people. The background gives the viewer a sense of depth which was also a major innovation that the Renaissance brought back to painting.
Like a manga, the artist wants us to look at the painting from right to left and then leave us fixated at the figure of Jupiter. Now this is probably not a surprise, but the figure of Jupiter might actually be a self portrait of Dosso; however, like Stan Lee in basically every Marvel film ever created, artists liked to make small cameos in their works.
So what do I think about this painting? I like it, the scene is portrayed well if again look at from right to left and the qualities of the overall work is what I enjoy most out of High Renaissance paintings. Plus in researching this painting, I found a nice little story that I never heard about. Then again, like Plato's Atlantis, it might have been some fabricated story, like any form of media that has told me that creationism is true or that the Easter Bunny.
Your helmet is so big!
Next up is Titian the Venetian and his work Venus, Mars, and Cupid which sounds like a cheap porno from the 70s that the Snob would review if there was such a thing as Greek Mythsploitation. Born in either 1488/90 as Tiziano Vecelli, but simply known in English as Titian; he would become the most important member of the 16th century Venetian School of art.
At the age of 10-12, he and his brother Francesco were sent to their Uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship. They found their masters in Gentile Bellini and then later his brother Giovanni Bellini, who were at the time the leading artists in Venice. So this is like learning how to play the guitar by Hendrix or learning music from Bach; clearly these two apprentices were destined for success.
Eventually he became an assistant to fellow upcoming artist Giorgione, but as soon as contemporary critics began lauding Titian's work over his peer, a rivalry soon began ala Ash and Gary. Over the time in his early career he copied the subjects of Giorgione, but eventually would break into his on and become the premier master of Venice.
After his rival died in 1510 at the age of 32 and Giovanni soon afterwards in 1516, Titian found himself unrivaled in the Venetian School. This period between 1516-1530 is considered Titian's period of mastery and maturity; this was Beethoven in his prime, this was Muhammad Ali in his prime, this was Kurt Angle at his best! And this fresco was done at the very end of this period.
Venus, Mars, and Cupid is a scene of passion between the goddess of lust and the god of war with the god of love watching like Bluto. Again it is done in that humanistic style and having background present some depth, but unlike the Dosso's work, its obviously more erotic.
There is that classical passion going on this work, as Mars holds his woman and while kissing seems to be trying to get some shall we say, "stimulation" our of her. The scene is obviously based on the much talked about affair between the goddess Venus and the god Mars much to the chagrin of Greek Mythology's Quasimodo, Hephaestus. (Technically Vulcan if we are using the Roman names) Though funnily enough, this affair was about as transparent as Rob Halford's sexuality.
Anyway my thoughts on this painting? I find it a good representation of why Titian is considered an artistic master of the Renaissance, though there are better paintings to show this. It portrays eroticism that I haven't seen since... wait I have an account on Deviantart.
Thank god for conveniently long hair!
And now the final painting in this experimental blog is one that anyone who took an art history class in High School would know. The Birth of Venus is considered the masterpiece of Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, but we know him better as Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli was such a master artist that it is amazing why we didn't have a fifth member of the TMNT named after him.
Born in the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence, Botticelli became an apprentice at the age of 14 to the painter Fra' Filippo Lippi and a lot of Botticelli's early works have been attributed to his master. Influenced by the monumentality of the works of Masaccio and it was from his master that he learned a more intimate and detailed matter of painting. In other words, Botticelli was pulling a Samurai Jack and learning from multiple sources to become a master artist.
In 1486, Botticelli created this masterpiece above us, The Birth of Venus, which captures the mythological birth of Venus from the sea and her landing in Cyprus. The figure of Venus is of course the center of this entire work; almost framed in by the figures around her representing the Graces on the right and the wind who blows more hot air than a DC Lobbyist.
Venus undoubtedly represents the ideal woman, like Marilyn Monroe in the 50s or Angelina Jolie today, and shows that men still liked blondes back then. The painting isn't as realistic as the other two examples because that style took a couple of more decades to develop.
What do I think about this painting? Well considering its position as a masterpiece of the Renaissance I would say that I give it that, but its not one of my favorites. I don't really like the style and much prefer the later paintings in the High Renaissance than the early ones like this. Anyway, this is where this new blog ends, feedback would be appreciated and maybe I'll do a few more of these.
No I don't know what they are saying, it just came up when I searched "Birth of Venus song"
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