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Ovid and the Metamorphoses of Modern Art from Botticelli to Picasso
Written in the spirit of Ovid (43 B.C–A.D. 17/18), this lively and erudite book traces the art derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses from the Renaissance up to the present day. The Metamorphoses has been more widely illustrated than any other book except the Bible; for centuries, great artists have drawn, painted, and sculpted its stories, the artists often responding not only to Ovid’s work but to one another’s in their depictions. ÌýPaul Barolsky, a specialist in Italian Renaissance art and literature, explores Ovid’s unparalleled influence on the visual arts, discussing works by many of the most famous artists of the past six centuries.Ìý Broadly interdisciplinary, the new understanding of the themes of the Metamorphoses revealed here will appeal to those in the fields of Renaissance art, humanism, literature, history, and classics, among others.Ìý At once witty, entertaining, and profound, Ovid and the Metamorphoses of Modern Art from Botticelli to Picasso is a meditation on what words can achieve that images cannot, and conversely what images can show that words cannot tell.
- GenresArtArt History
250 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2014
86 people want to read
About the author
Paul Barolsky
14Ìýbooks3ÌýfollowersAn internationally renowned scholar in the field of Renaissance Art.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 30, 2018
Barolsky follows various themes through text and art to conclude that Ovid's Metamorphoses is one of the major inspirations for Renaissance art. Only biblical stories get more extensive treatment in paint. Ovid treats recursive art about art, attributes that appear early on, show up in later stories in many layered forms. Using about 250 mythological stories, Ovid weaves a very finely detailed tapestry, and weaving textiles and texts is one of these themes. But Titian, Rubens, et al are up to the challenge. Barolsky's method for "reading" paintings is revelatory. I will never look at Renaissance narrative art the same way again. Diego Velasquez's The Spinners (1645) never especially appealed to me, now it's my favorite painting. There are spinners and weavers in the foreground, and a tapestry of a key Ovid tale "The Rape of Europa" in the background. The weaving competition between Arachne and Minerva is the subtext. I think it is Barolsky's reading of Botticelli's "Primavera" that is the most stunning.
February 1, 2025
I participate in the Hardcore Literature experience on Patreon and this book was suggested to accompany one of the “big reads� for Jan/Feb- Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This book is wonderful!!
June 20, 2019
A companion piece I've been perusing while working through an extended discussion of Ovid's Metamorphoses. This is a very beautiful book, providing discussions and generous illustrations that greatly enrich the experience of reading Ovid. While I acquired it as reference material and the discussions linking the artworks to the Ovidian stories are insightful and remarkably concise, the book easily stands on its own on its merit as simply an art book. It has greatly enriched the experience of reading and discussing the Metamorphoses. A treasured addition to our family library.
June 15, 2019
I very rarely give five stars to a book, but as a Latin Teacher and Classicist, I really loved the discussions of Ovid and how his Metamorphoses influenced Renaissance Art. I also loved seeing the illustrations of some of the Artwork I have seen in my travels to Italy and elsewhere. This is a very erudite and interesting book.
January 8, 2015
This book looks at works of art based on stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is very liberally illustrated with the art works discussed, though some are large works, and the details aren't easy to see in reproduction. It was a much easier read than I had been expecting. Many of the works of art I knew, but there was many didn't. And my knowledge of Ovid's stories isn't very thorough, and of the stories I do know, I often didn't know lots of details. Many of the paintings aren't fashionable - the mythological works of Rubens and Poussin for example.
But this was actually a very enjoyable book to read. There is a brief section at the end of the book - a 'brief bibliographical note' where the author says how he aspires to the ideal of "lightness" or leggerezza. That the book is a meditation on the ideal of serio ludere or serious play, and that he wants to capture the playful tone of Ovid. And I think he succeeds. There is a lightness and a sense of fun in the book, and he clearly loves Ovid the art works he is writing about.
I enjoyed his discussion of works by Titian, Velazquez, and of Botticelli's Primavera amongst others. Although I knew of Velazquez's painting if 'the forge of Vulcan', I wasn't aware of the story it illustrates. In fact this book made to look again at a copy of Ovid's metamorphoses that I bought nearly 20 years ago, and have never read.
I should mention that the book also meditates on metamorphoses, on changes - how a written work has been changed to a visual work, and how elements of the story have been changed.
But this was actually a very enjoyable book to read. There is a brief section at the end of the book - a 'brief bibliographical note' where the author says how he aspires to the ideal of "lightness" or leggerezza. That the book is a meditation on the ideal of serio ludere or serious play, and that he wants to capture the playful tone of Ovid. And I think he succeeds. There is a lightness and a sense of fun in the book, and he clearly loves Ovid the art works he is writing about.
I enjoyed his discussion of works by Titian, Velazquez, and of Botticelli's Primavera amongst others. Although I knew of Velazquez's painting if 'the forge of Vulcan', I wasn't aware of the story it illustrates. In fact this book made to look again at a copy of Ovid's metamorphoses that I bought nearly 20 years ago, and have never read.
I should mention that the book also meditates on metamorphoses, on changes - how a written work has been changed to a visual work, and how elements of the story have been changed.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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