Mythological Subjects

This group of prints and drawings shows the variety of ways in which artists treated the myths of ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient myths were recounted in the writings of the classical poets, especially Homer (ca. 8th — 9th century C.E.) and Ovid (43 B.C.E. — 17 C.E.), and more often than not, showed gods and goddesses with all too human characteristics.

Classical mythology also included the stories of semi-divine beings called heroes. In the 15th to 18th centuries, the period of time during which these images were created, ancient, classical myths would have been familiar to all educated people. Sources for their artistic representation would have been classical sculpture, sarcophagi, coins and engraved gems.