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ANDREA MANTEGNA - PARNASSUS
Parnassus (Parnas) -
By Andrea Mantegna,
Louvre, Public
Domain
1496-1497 |
- The Parnassus is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna,
created in 1497.
- Oil on canvas.
- Above eveything, we see
these two Olympian gods stand side by side atop a rocky, naturally occurring, triumphal arch.
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The Parnassus and Minerva were painted by Mantegna to be placed opposite each other, as demonstrated by the fact that the light comes from the left in the first painting and from the right in the second.
(mini-site.louvre.fr)
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Mars and Venus |
Roman gods |
- The interpretation of the work is based on a late 15th-century poem by Battista Fiera, which identified it as a representation of Mount Parnassus
in Greece.
- From this came the allegory of Isabella d'Este as Venus and
her husband Francesco II Gonzaga as Mars.
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One of the great patrons and collectors of the Italian Renaissance was Isabella d’Este (1474-1539). She came from the royal bloodline of the kingdom of Naples, was the wife of the Duke of Mantova, Francesco II Gonzaga, and, in her own right, a highly educated woman and adored figure of the courts in the Italian peninsula.
(Charlotte Hone)
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Venus celebration |
- This painting has been interpreted as
a celebration of the marriage of Isabella and Francesco, however, this
makes no sense because inclusion of the figure of Vulcan counters this argument.
- Contains a mix of both Roman and Greek gods.
- Venus is naked because she is hotter, but because she is pure and innocent.
- She has nothing to hide
although she may have problems with infidelity.
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Commissioned by Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of
Mantua, it was first of a series for her studiola.
Mantegna was the court painter at the time.
(catchlight.blog)
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Satirical snipe |
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Some say that Isabella d’Este, portrayed as a naked Venus,
is arm in arm with Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici shown as Mars,
and not her husband.
- de' Medici had fled from Florence, and on his way to Venice visited the Marchioness
Isabella d’Este.
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But the bridge they stand on, resembling a dung heap, is another satirical snipe targeted at Isabella. Its rather large orifice is a pun on the name Orpheus!
(catchlight.blog)
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Venus rose |
- In many Venus appearances, she was accompanied by symbols such as the rose
which is a symbol of fertility, sexual passion, and female genitalia.
- Additionally, she was often featured with a crown of myrtle
represented by an evergreen brush with white flowers.
- This crown quickly became one of her chief symbols.
- Sea shells were another common motif; these shells served both as a reference to Venus’ birth at sea and as yet another of Venus’ many erotic symbols.
Venus long right arm |
- Why does Venus have such a long right arm?
- Venus's unusual proportions, including her elongated neck, are part of the painting's composition, which is based on classic statuary.
- Venus is beautiful but not perfect.
- If you look closely you will notice that her body has different proportions from those of real women.
- The painting depicted something about women's pleasure
and feminity, something blissful and not shameful, in her
very tactful but relaxed posture.
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The long left arm of Venus is a notable feature of Sandro Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus, which depicts the goddess of love and beauty emerging from the sea.
(Britannica)
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Venus de Milo |
- Notice the posture of Venus is derived from the ancient
statue.
- The Venus de Milo or Aphrodite of Melos is an ancient Greek marble sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period.
- There long have been claims the arms were broken off in 1820 during a fight on the shore of Melos, as French and Turkish sailors vied for possession of the artwork.
- The sculpture was identified as depicting Aphrodite holding
the 'apple of discord.'
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It was rediscovered in 1820 on the island of Milos, Greece, and has been displayed at the Louvre Museum since 1821. Since the statue's discovery, it has become one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture in the world.
(Wikipedia)
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Mount Parnassus |
- Mount Parnassus is the location of many historical,
archaeological, and cultural sites.
- Delphi is located on
the southern slopes of the mountain in a rift valley north of
the Gulf of Corinth.
- Many of its ancient communities are cited in Homer's
Iliad.
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According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Dionysus and the Dionysian mysteries; it was also sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and it was the home of the Muses.
(Wikipedia)
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Canopy bed |
- Roman gods, Mars and Venus, are shown on a natural arch of rocks in front a symbolic
canopy bed.
-
The story of Mars and Venus is one of forbidden love.
- They also stand for sacred love;
the union of masculine and feminine.
- Their love affair is recounted by Homer in the
Odyssey and by Ovid in the Metamorphoses.
- The red, white and blue symbolized the French Republic.
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In astrology
Venus and Mars are often referred to as the cosmic lovers, representing the two sides of love and passion. Venus embodies love, beauty, harmony, and relationships, while Mars embodies passion, desire, and physical energy.
(Wikipedia)
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Sea foam |
- Venus came into the world after her father Uranus was emasculated with a sickle by his son Saturn, and the semen from the cut-off genital
went into the sea.
- Venus rose from the sea foam soon after.
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The painting 'The Birth of Venus' Sandro Botticelli painted around 1485 shows the goddess of love and beauty standing on a scallop shell, shortly after she came out of the water.
(sister-mag.com)
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Vulcan son of
Jupiter |
- After Venus rose out of the sea, she came upon the gods
and Jupiter (Jove), who was the Greek god Zeus, adopted her and made her the wife of Vulcan, his son
by his sister-wife Juno, who was called Hera by the Greeks.
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The Latin name for Jupiter was Iuppiter, which was sometimes abbreviated to Ju- to create the name Jove.
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Women were the property of men - belonging to either their father, husband, brother or son - as their dowry was a price tag denoting their value and social status.
(Charlotte Hone)
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Vulcan chased by
Juno |
- When Vulcan was a baby, he was so ugly the other gods laughed at him
and made fun of him.
- Because Vulcan cried a lot, his mother Juno furiously threw him from heaven to earth.
Vulcan forged a
sceptre |
- Vulcan hurt his leg when he fell down to earth and as a result,
he limped his whole life.
- On earth, he developed a special talent for handling fire and metal and, among other things, forged the sceptre of his father,
Jupiter.
Vulcan crafted a
golden throne |
- For his mother, Vulcan crafted a golden throne, however, he installed a trap.
- When Juno sat down on the throne, invisible fetters held her back
and prevented her from getting up again.
- Only after she assured Vulcan that he would be readopted into the circle of gods
who had shunned him,
that he finally freed her from the throne.
Wedding ceremony |
- The marriage of Venus and Vulcan, the god of the kiln
and master of metallurgy, wasn't something either
of them anticipated since they both had alternatives.
- Vulcan had at least four children with other women, and Venus wasn’t averse to extramarital affairs either.
- Their marriage, fraught as it was with mistrust and infidelity, did not produce children.
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Venus was the Roman goddess of love, maternal
care, sexual reproduction, and erotic desire. The
loveliest of all deities, Venus desired—and was
desired by—mortals and gods alike.
(mythopedia.com)
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Mars |
- In fact, Venus' longest liaison was with Mars who the Greeks called Ares and who also was a son of Jupiter and Juno
and brother of Vulcan.
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They were meant to be married on the same day as Jupiter
(Zeus) and Juno (Hera), but in Greek mythology, Hera handed Aphrodite's hand
(Venus) to Hephaestus (Vulcan) instead, to atone for her sins against him.
- Mars was the aggressive, brutal and martial god of war and the complete opposite to
the sweet-tempered Vulcan.
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As the goddess of love and sex, Venus possessed the ability to make mortals and gods fall madly in love. Venus’ chief weapons were her charm and erotic appeal, and in her mythological tradition, many fell victim to them.
(mythopedia.com)
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Opposing forces |
- Despite that, Venus was attracted to her adoptive brother
Mars more than Vulcan.
- Mars embodies aggression and violence, while Venus embodies beauty, love, and fertility, making their union a representation of opposing forces.
- Venus truly loved Mars, and the pair carried on a secret
love affair and they had several children together including
sons named Delmos (terror), Phobos (fear), Chaos, Panic,
Trembling and a daughter Harmonia.
Roman lattice |
- Unlike the Greek Ares, who was viewed as a destructive and destabilizing force,
the Roman Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace.
- He was considered a father (pater) of the Roman people.
- In Rome's mythic genealogy and founding, Mars fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia.
Fairest Roman |
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Venus is sensual, soft, and gentle, except when her beauty is challenged.
- Her anger over another being declared the fairest is said to have caused the Trojan war.
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Venus was formally incorporated and adopted into the Roman pantheon in the
3rd-century BC.
- During the Punic Wars of that same era,
Venus was thought to lend her assistance to the Romans and
ensure their victories over the Carthaginians.
Roman history |
- Venus
mated with Anchises and gave birth to Aeneas, one of the heroes of the Trojan War.
- Aeneas son Ascanius later founded the city of Alba Longa that, over time,
developed into Rome.
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In the mythic tradition of Virgil’s Aeneid, Venus was cast as the lover of Anchises, a member of the royal family of Troy. According to this tradition, Venus disguised herself as a comely virgin and seduced Anchises, only revealing her true identity after she had become pregnant.
(mythopedia.com)
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Caesar laurel |
- Ascanius who was also called
Iulus is said to be an ancestor of Caesar who publicly
linked his family’s heritage to the goddess’ maternal line,
making Venus the progenitor of the 1st imperial dynasty.
- This claim was later substantiated by the poet Virgil, who presented Venus as the founder of the Julius family.
- Caesar later established a temple in honor of Venus Genetrix, or
'Venus the Creator.'
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Mars love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled two different traditions of Rome's founding since Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas, celebrated as the Trojan refugee who "founded" Rome several generations before Romulus laid out the city walls.
(Wikipedia)
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Venus pleads |
- Later, when her son Aeneas sailed from Carthage to Italy, Venus pleaded with Neptune
(Poseidon) to allow him safe passage across the Mediterranean.
- Upon Aeneas’ arrival in Rome, Venus supplied him with
weapons and armor that had been crafted by Vulcan which would be used in the coming war against the Latins.
Vulcan forged armor |
- On Aeneas’ shield, Vulcan depicted the future triumphs of the Romans, such as Augustus’ victory over his foes at the battle of Actium in 31 BC.
- In the final moments of the Aeneid, Venus intervened and healed Aeneas after he had been struck by an arrow.
Spear planet |
- Venus and Mars are the closest planets to Earth.
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Mars symbol is the spear and Venus symbol is a mirror.
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The adventure of Mars and Venus can be seen in the night sky.
- Mars was red, the color of blood and war, and his light
brightens and dims.
- The first astronomers called the two
faces of Mars the 'Wanderer' because of this unique property.
- Venus, 2nd planet from the sun, was the brightest among the stars.
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The symbols of Venus and Mars are also used to represent female and male in biology following a convention introduced by Carl Linnaeus in the 1750s.
(Wikipedia)
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Mars is iron |
-
Mars metal is iron and Venus is copper.
- Mars is Tuesday
and Venus is Friday.
Passion and Desire |
- Venus is a sign of love, harmony, and beauty, whereas Mars is a symbol of activity, action, and passion.
- When the planets of Venus and Mars align in a
conjunction, relationships may experience an increase in
passion and desire.
- People could feel more confident and ardent when expressing their amorous emotions.
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Mythic imagination can break the spell of time and open us to a level of life that remains timeless. Myth is not about what happened in past times; myth is about what happens to people all of the time.
(Michael Meade)
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Present moment |
- To love requires choice and surrender.
- When you
really choose love and surrender to it, you risk change and
transformation.
- Opening your heart without knowing what the future brings lets the present moment flood in.
- Once you let life in like that, you’ll never be the same.
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The hero in the story is love and the one who surrenders to love.
Fury and temper |
- When Venus unites with Mars, she absorbs his fury and
calms his temper.
- Only Venus could tame Mars and bring
peace.
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In Botticelli’s painting, Mars sleeps like a baby with Venus watching, while the satyrs play with his weapons and try to wake him. He remains adrift in sweet slumber, defenseless.
(sagegoddess.com)
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Anteros and his
blowpipe |
- One of their sons was Cupid, who was the Greek god Eros, the small god of love with bow and arrow.
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Anteros was also the son of Mars and Venus, and was given as a playmate to his brother Eros, who was lonely.
- Anteros punishes those who scorn love, and avenges unrequited love.
- He is seen as representing spiritual love, rather than carnal love.
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Anteros is a Greek mythological figure who represents requited love, or "love returned". He is often depicted as the brother of Eros, and is sometimes portrayed as Cupid's enemy.
(Wikipedia)
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Muses dancing |
- Nine Muses are dancing and this is an allegory of universal harmony
at their home on Mount Helicon.
- Maidservants preparing the goddess of love for her amorous adventure.
- They are accompanied by Anteros, the heavenly love.
- Anteros is holding an arch (bow), and has a blowpipe which
he aims at the genitals of Vulcan, Venus' husband, warning
him to stay away.
- Vulcan is portrayed in his workshop in a
dark grotto.
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Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long, To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
(Shakespeare)
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Vulcan in hia grotto |
- Venus, the goddess of love, had a long-going affair with Mars, the god of war,
all while married to Vulcan, the god of blacksmithing and the night.
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Vulcan was the Greek god Hephaestus and Venus was the Greek
goddess Aphrodite.
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The earliest form of the story that we have appears in Book 8 of the Greek poet Homer's Odyssey, likely written in the 8th century B.C.E. The main roles in the play are the Goddess Venus, an adulterous, sensual woman fond of sex and society; Mars a god both handsome and virile, exciting and aggressive; and Vulcan the forger, a powerful but old god, twisted and lame.
(N.S. Gill)
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Vulcan is enraged |
- Vulcan in a rocky cave is shown in a violent outburst of anger as he appears separated and unable to stop the union between his wife Venus and her lover Mars.
Beauty of nature |
- The god of war and the goddess of love are located in the beauty of nature.
- There are several references to fertility in the
scenery, the most notable being the abundant greenery that surrounds them.
- This is at odds with the barren stretch of desert land at
the bottom of the painting that separates the scene from the viewer.
Vulcan grapes
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- Behind Vulcan in his grotto is the grape, a symbol of the drunk's intemperance.
- This myth is often interpreted as a commentary on the human condition, where passionate love can sometimes lead to conflict or destructive behavior.
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Without food and wine, Venus freezes.
(Terence)
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Many fruits
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- The outdoor bedroom scene contains vegetation with many fruits and in the right part (male) and only one in the left (female) part, symbolizing the fecundation.
Season of Spring |
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Two of the dancers represent Flora and Chloris as in the
Botticelli
painting Primavera, and Venus with one of the four Horae representing the season of Spring, as in the
painting Birth of Venus.
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Like the Greek Apollo, Venus had a fluid sexuality
and embraced male and female lovers alike. She was
also the guardian of lovers and prostitutes, and a
major figure in Roman religion. Venus was adapted from
the Greek goddess Aphrodite, with whom she shared a
mythological tradition.
(mythopedia.com)
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Venus cult religious
festival |
- Her cults may represent the charm and seduction of the divine by mortals,
and the unofficial, illicit manipulation of divine forces
through magic.
- This is in contrast to the formal,
contractual relations between most members of Rome's official
pantheon and the state.
- The Romans held three festivals
in honor of Venus each year; April 1, April 23 and August 19.
- Her importance as a figure of
worship peaked shortly after the 3rd-century BC, though she
continued to be venerated until the rise of Christianity in
the 4th-century AD.
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Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.
(Wikipedia)
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Venus had affairs |
- Even though she was married to Vulcan, Venus had affairs with several other men.
- Best-known is the affair with Mars which Vulcan stopped in a clever way.
- Although he never seemed to
notice all the children she had
with Mars.
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In Roman mythology, the story of Mars and Venus symbolizes the complex relationship between love and war, with Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war, depicted as lovers, highlighting how even the most destructive forces can be tempered by love and beauty; their affair often represents the tension between passion and the potential for chaos when these powerful forces collide.
(Wikipedia)
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Apollo playing a
lyre |
- The affair was first discovered by
Greek and Roman god Apollo,
who was sitting in a clearing under the arch playing a lyre.
- In Greek mythology, Sun god Helios
(Sol) discovered the affair, not Apollo.
- The scene at
surface level relates to mythology, and in this instance an
opera about Orpheus, the legendary Greek musician and poet
with the ability to charm all living things and even stones.
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The painting records an opera staged in 1491 at a carnival in Marmrolo, a province of Mantua. Orpheus is depicted seated playing a lyre on the extreme left of the picture. He is also presented as Apollo. (catchlight.blog)
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Orpheus plays |
- Orpheus was the son of a Muse (probably Calliope, the patron of epic poetry) and Oeagrus, a king of Thrace,
however, other versions name Apollo.
- According to some legends, Apollo gave Orpheus his first lyre.
- Orpheus’s singing and playing were so beautiful that animals and even trees and rocks moved about him in dance.
- Orpheus
later joined the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts, saving them from the music of the Sirens by playing his own, more powerful music.
Vulcan
bird revenge |
- Apollo told Vulcan about Venus'
betrayal and her love affair
with Mars.
- Vulcan, made a plan of revenge and he is associated with volcanoes.
- Some legends say his forge was under Mount Etna in Sicily.
- The name Vulcan comes from the ancient Latin verb fulgre, which means
'to flash.'
- Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is known as the fastest animal on Earth and is sometimes called the
'vulcan bird.'
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Another critical theme present in this story is punishment. Acts of disrespect weren’t just “forgotten” in Greek mythology. Punishment was the norm and was served in this myth by Vulcan in the form of humiliation on a silver platter smothered in laughter.
(mythontheweb.wordpress.com)
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Apollo stump |
- A tree stump can represent a life that was cut short or the brevity of life.
- The jagged or rough break of the stump can represent the sudden end of a life.
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For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
(Job 14:7-9)
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Invisible net |
- Vulcan went to his forge and created a snare made of bronze chains so fine that not even the gods could see them.
- He spread them across his marriage bed, draping them all over the bed-posts.
- Then he told Venus he was leaving for Lemnos.
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The story is that the goddess Venus was married to Vulcan, god of the night and blacksmithing and an ugly and lame old man. Mars, handsome, young, and clean-built, is irresistible to her, and they make passionate love in Vulcan's marriage bed.
(N.S. Gill)
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Caught in the net |
- When Venus and Mars took advantage of Vulcan's absence, they were caught in the net, unable to stir hand or foot.
-
The
two of them got caught in an compromising position.
- To
finish the humiliation, Vulcan was working behind the scenes
and invited all the gods to Venus’
bedroom so they could examine the trapped pair of lovers.
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The search for the Beloved between masculine and feminine is eternal. Myths, like Mars and Venus, are metaphors or symbolic stories that communicate deeper truths of existence. Mythology never gets old because it’s about the basic nature of humanity and possibilities of human experience.
(sagegoddess.com)
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Shocked goddesses
stay away |
- Vulcan hadn't really left for Lemnos and instead
rushed into the bedroom and found the couple chained
together.
- He shouted to Venus's father Jupiter, who
ushered in the other gods who had gathered together to witness his cuckolding.
- This was the entire Roman pantheon including Mercury, Apollo, and Neptune,
but all the goddesses stayed away in shame.
- This is
where Ovid's brief story in Metamorphoses ends, however Homer's
Odyssey continues on.
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Invulnerable Mars seemed foolish all tied up like a fish, but those same gods who laughed were envious. Even Mercury, who expressed the least sexual desire of the immortals, joked that he wouldn’t mind being caught in a trap for a toss with Venus.
(sagegoddess.com)
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Gods roared in
laughter |
- The gods roared in laughter at the lovers, and their long laughter is called
'Homeric.'
- With this entrapment, Vulcan also took revenge for the experiences of his childhood when he was
laughed at for his ugliness and he no longer felt so out of
it.
Leaving |
- Vulcan demanded his dowry back from Jupiter so he was no
longer married to Venus.
- Neptune then bargained for the freedom of Mars and Venus
from the chains, promising that if Mars didn't pay the dowry back he would pay it himself.
- Vulcan agreed and loosened the chains, and Venus
promptly left for her homeland on the Island of Cyprus and Mars
left for Thrace.
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In Homer's Odyssey, Venus returns to Cyprus, in Ovid she remains with Vulcan.
(thoughtco.com)
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Harmonia curse |
-
In another version told by Hyginus in the Fabulae, the affair’s aftermath is explained.
- Mars is frightened away by Vulcan and never came around
again.
- From the rendezvous between Mars and Venus, a daughter
named Harmonia is born.
- Vulcan and Minerva gift Harmonia a robe
or necklace that marks their bloodline as ill-fated.
- And because of Sol’s (Apollo's) honesty, Venus holds a
grudge against him.
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Harmonia is renowned in ancient story chiefly on account of the fatal necklace she received on her wedding day.
(Wikipedia)
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Roman heads turning |
-
This myth touches on quite a few topics important in ancient Greek
and Roman mythology.
- A big theme of importance is the devotion of wife to husband as well as a woman’s
'duties.'
- Venus breaks this sacred vow to her husband, which was a big deal in ancient times.
- Cheating is common in myth, but it’s typically the man committing adultery, so Venus’ infidelity isn’t taken lightly.
Juno (Hera) interferes |
- Although it's also true that Venus didn't want to
marry
Vulcan, that was all arranged without her knowledge
by Jupiter
and Juno, she wanted to marry Mars.
- Additionally there are so many double-standards when it
comes to what men are allowed to do, versus women,
especially in ancient times.
|
The “man” is viewed as the one able to penetrate; it’s what makes him masculine. It’s his right; therefore, it is not out of the norm for men to cheat. However, the woman’s role is to stay in the house and remain devoted to her husband where a man even entering the house can be seen as a threat to the wife’s loyalty to her husband.
(mythontheweb.wordpress.com)
|
Wild boar |
- Another prominent affair of Venus was one with Adonis, a mortal male known for his unrivaled beauty.
- Since he was a mortal, he was beneath her divine dignity.
-
As the poet Ovid explained, Venus was nicked with the arrow of Cupid, one of her sons, while she bent to kiss the child.
- The wound went deep into her heart and caused her to fall in love with the mortal Adonis.
- Adonis was killed shortly after by the jealous Mars who had turned into a boar.
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Even as the sun with purple-colour'd face
Had ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn,
Rose-cheek'd Adonis hied him to the chase;
Hunting he loved, but love he laugh'd to scorn;
Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him,
And like a bold-faced suitor 'gins to woo him.
(Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis)
|
Adonis flammea |
- Venus was so heartbroken about the death of her lover that she used his blood and her tears to create a flower
called the red pheasant’s eye or Adonis flammea.
- Scooping up Adonis’ blood and mixing it with nectar, Venus crafted a red flower in her lover’s memory.
- Like Adonis, the flower was beautiful but short lived, as it lost its lovely petals within days of budding.
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'Thrice-fairer than myself,' thus she began,
'The field's chief flower, sweet above compare.
(Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis)
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Mercury
is Hermes |
-
Roman god Mercury who is the Greek Hermes, is wearing his traditional winged hat.
- He does not look at us but concentrates his gaze on the horse.
- Venus also had a love affair with Mercury.
|
On the right side of the scene is a serene Hermes with the immortal horse Pegasus standing larger than the other figures, thus standing almost like a guard between the viewer and the scene itself.
(byarcadia.org)
|
Dionysius is Bacchus
91 and 3 |
- She also had
an affair and children with Greek god Bacchus, who was the Roman Dionysius.
- Both her lovers, Bacchus and Mercury were the sons of her adoptive father Jupiter.
Vulcan earthquake |
- Vulcan had the power to generate earthquakes and other catastrophes, symbolized by the crumbling mountains.
- Such disasters could also be caused by Pegasus' hoof.
|
Pegasos, soaring, left the earth, the mother of sheep flocks, and came to the immortals, and there he lives in the household of Zeus, and carries the thunder and lightning for Zeus of the counsels.
(Hesiod, Theogony)
|
Pegasus and Mercury |
- Pegasus is
Mercury's winged horse.
- He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa.
|
The bearded and winged Pegasus is not only meant
to represent Leonardo da Vinci, but also the winged
wind god, Zephyrus, as featured in Botticelli’s
Primavera.
(catchlight.blog)
|
Pegasus and Leonardo |
- Leonardo was also an accomplished musician and when he moved to Milan from Florence in 1482, he brought with him as a gift for Ludovico Sforza a silver lyre shaped in the form of a horse’s head.
- That is why the bearded Leonardo is portrayed as the head of a horse, and why a river of silver flows down towards the head from silver mines.
Centaur |
-
The horse-man is also reference to a centaur, sometimes
described as having two natures, tamed and wild.
- Chiron was regarded as the wisest of all centaurs.
|
The reference to Leonardo da Vinci being both horse and man is a pointer to another Botticelli painting, Pallas and the Centaur (c.1482) where Leonardo is portrayed as the half man, half horse. In this instance the head of the man doubles up as the head of John the Baptist, but that’s another story.
(catchlight.blog)
|
Evil eye |
- Leonardo had a young man who was his apprentice in
Milan known as Andrea Salaì.
- Leonardo nicknamed his apprentice Salaì, which can be translated as
'little devil,' and described him as a liar and a thief.
- Salaì is said to have stolen from his master on some five occasions.
- This could be why the artist portrayed the young man
with his eyes on Leonardo’s jewels, the red jewel on the
horse’s forehead as a symbol of the 'evil eye.'
|
Mantegna ‘borrowed’ from Leonardo as there are many references to the polymath and his work in the Parnassus painting.
(catchlight.blog)
|
Portrait of a Musician
by DaVinci |
- Atalante Migliorotti was a musician and a skilled instrument maker who served, like Salaì, as an assistant to Leonardo.
- He sang the lead role in the Orpheus opera staged for Isabella d’Este.
- Leonardo painted him in Portrait of a Musician soon after they both arrived in Milan
and he looks almost identical to the figure Mercury.
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Red cap, curls, bronze garment, and the music notation in his hand to pair with the Pan pipes.His first name is the masculine version of Atalanta, a swift-footed virgin in Greek mythology, famed for her foot-race with Hippomenes. This links to the figure’s winged feet and the stomping hoof of Pegasus which generated a spring of water named Hippocrene (horse-spring).
(catchlight.blog)
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Caduceus winged
staff |
- Mercury is holding
a caduceus, the winged staff with entwined snakes.
-
He created the caduceus by throwing his staff at two snakes
who were fighting and the snakes wrapped themselves around the staff.
- As a result, the caduceus became a symbol of peacefully resolving disputes.
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The caduceus is sometimes used in the medical field, but it's not the same as the staff of Asclepius, which is the medical symbol used by the AMA. The caduceus is similar to the staff of Asclepius, but the caduceus has two snakes, while the staff of Asclepius has one.
(Wikipedia)
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Mercury shoes |
- Mercury wears special winged messenger shoes.
- He is present at the
love scene to protect the two adulterers.
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The painting is mirrored on a central vertical line, and elements on the left are matched in a way on the right. So Orpheus and his lyre is paired with Pegasus the horse and the figure of a young man presumed by art historians to represent Mercury, a messenger of the gods, carrying a caduceus and a pan flute.
(catchlight.blog)
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Mountain spring |
- The
touch of Pegasus's hoof can generate the spring which fed
the falls of Mount Helicon.
Mount Helicon |
- In Greek mythology, two springs sacred to the Muses were located
on Mount Helicon: the Aganippe and the Hippocrene, both of which bear "horse" (híppos) in their names.
Pegasus kicks |
- In a related myth, the Hippocrene spring was created when the
immortal winged horse Pegasus aimed his hoof at a rock, striking it with such force that the spring burst from the spot.
-
The artist Mantegna used the word Hippomenes as a pun or joke.
- Because Menes refers to the biblical scene from the Book of Daniel
called Belshazzar’s Feast.
- This is when a hand wrote on a
wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharshin.
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Mene: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed and found wanting.
Upharshin: Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
(Daniel 5)
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Pegasus knees |
- This is all veiled humor and Mene
refers to the bronze cast of a horse that Leonardo created for
Ludovico Sforza but never completed as an end to the days of
his horse.
- When the French Army invaded Milan in 1499,
the clay model of the horse was used for target practice and
that is the pock marks on the legs.
Pegasus wing |
- Tekel is the bronze material that
weighed 75 tons and was requisitioned by Leonardo in 1494 for
the horse.
- It was eventually put to another use making canons
for the war.
- Upharshin was the kingdom Duchy of Milan divided
in 1499 after it fell under attack by France and the Republic of Venice.
Hippocrene spring |
-
The Hippocrene spring was considered to be a source of poetic inspiration.
- Bunny rabbit to symbolize fertility.
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How can my muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse?
(Shakespeare, Sonnet XXXVIII)
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Helicon spring |
- The poet Hesiod in 7th-century BC, sang about his youth
when he pastured sheep on the slopes of Helicon.
- Hesiod
spoke about how Eros and the Muses had sanctuaries and a dancing-ground near the summit, where
'their pounding feet awaken desire.'
- It was there the
Muses inspired him and he began to write of the origins of the
gods.
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From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing,
Who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon,
And dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring.
(Hesiod, Theogony)
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Narcissus petals |
- On Mount Helicon too was the spring
where Narcissus was inspired by his own beauty.
Minerva virgin
goddess |
- The Roman poet Ovid who was born 43 BC
wrote in his Metamorphoses, of Minerva visiting the Muses on Mount Helicon.
- Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy.
- She was the Roman equivalent of Athena the Greek goddess
and was the inventor of weaving and embroidery which were
skills that women in classical antiquity learned and practiced
in the home.
- She is also a goddess of wisdom and warfare, though with a
focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods
such as Mars.
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Up to this point Tritonian Minerva had given her time,
freely, in friendship, to this brother of hers,
conceived in a shower of gold, but now, surrounded by
vaulted cloud, she vanished from the island of
Seriphos, and leaving Cythnus and Gyarus behind on her
right, she headed for Thebes, and Mount Helicon, home
of the virgin Muses, crossing the sea by whichever way
seemed quickest.
(Ovid, Metamorphoses)
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Temple built on
Helicon |
- The Greek poet Callimachus, who was
born in 310 BC, wrote about a dream in which he was young and conversed with the Muses on Helicon.
- There had been a temple built on Helicon in their honor
which contained statues of the Muses.
Valley of the Muses |
- On Helicron, lies the Valley of the Muses, a fertile valley near Thespiai and Ascra, where cult centers were built.
- The Greek geographer, Pausanias, of the 2nd-century explored the sacred grove by the spring Aganippe and left a full description.
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Helicon is one of the mountains of Greece with the most fertile soil and the greatest number of cultivated trees. The wild-strawberry bushes supply to the goats sweeter fruit than that growing anywhere else. The dwellers around Helicon say that all the grasses too and roots growing on the mountain are not at all poisonous to men.
(Pausanias)
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Poseidon |
- In the Homeric Hymn to Poseidon, a
brief invocation, the god is hailed as 'Lord of Helicon.'
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Poseidon, the great god, mover of the earth and fruitless sea, god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon and wide Aegae. A two-fold office the gods allotted you, O Shaker of the Earth, to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships! Hail, Poseidon, Holder of the Earth, dark-haired lord! O blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those who voyage in ships!
(Homeric Hymns)
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Mars and Venus story |
- What’s the modern Mars and Venus story?
- How are we, as a society, currently reinventing love, power, sex, the feminine, and the masculine?
- Do modern Mars and Venus still look like those old paintings?
- The rules of the game change, but the search for love
remains.
Grasping |
- Before you can have real depth and
intimacy with another, you have to be complete in yourself.
- No person can fill your sense of lack or emptiness.
- Myth only points to the truth, we have to find it for ourselves.
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Embracing and integrating your own masculine energy (Mars) and feminine energy (Venus) is a prerequisite to true love. There’s no “better half” out there because halves imply a lack of wholeness. There’s nothing missing from you or anyone else. To offer yourself as and to be a whole person is the greatest gift of love, and you deserve nothing less in return.
(sagegoddess.com)
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Costumes |
- We’re all characters in a grand life story and as the drama unfolds, the costumes, settings, and roles shift with the times.
- Cupid’s arrows can inflict pain or pleasure, as we all know too well.
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