self-portraits ... part iv ...

 

giovanni benedetto castiglione,  1648 and  1650

rembrandt,  1636 and 1655

richard muller, 1942 and ???1927

shirin neshat, maybe mid-1990s

nadia waheed, contemporary

dorothy kay, 1950s

ronald searle, 1940s and the 2000s

william orpen, 1903, 1924

fedini, 2015ish

tatiana parcero

gertrud arndt

louise fenne

conrad felixmuller, 1897 to 1977

tove jansson,  1939 and 1975

francien krieg, 2020s

gesina ter borch, 1660

tintoretto, 1546-ish and 1588

cornelia hernes, 2017 and ????

hans baldung, 1505 and after

ellen eagle 

suzanne fabry, 1932 and 1948

caroline coon, 2003 and 2016

lotte laserstein, 1928 and 1947

paula schlinwein,  21st century

ayana v jackson, 2018-ish

Marta Astfalck-Vietz, 1920s

beth mitchell

alonsa guevara ... 2020-ish

carlos relvas

kathe kollwitz, 1893 and 1934

jeanne mammen, 1920s

james ensor, 1889 and 1896

lucian freud ... as narcissus, 1948 ... as actaeon, 1949

richard hamilton, 1981

 

henri fantin-latour, 1861 and ???

vuillard, 1890 and 1924

stanslaw wyspianski .... , 1902, 1904 with his wife, and a month before dying in 1907

rita angus, 1937 and 1938

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

marisa velasco, 1927 and 1928

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

felix vallotton 1885 and 1914

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

augustus john, 1902 and 19??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

anthony van dyck, 1620 ish and 1629 ish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

lavinia fontana, 1570s or 1580s maybe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

man ray ... 19xx and 1953

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

anders zorn, 18XX & 1896 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

louis lozowick,  1943 and 1930

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nicolas de largilliere, 1704 and 1710

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AXEL FRIDELL, 1920S OR 1930S MAYBE

wallace wood, comic artist, 1940s and 1950s

... to be continued ...

Circe,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe

 

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RB8

https://www.rct.uk/collection/publications/castiglione/circe

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_W-6-37

there are some books, not many ...

https://archive.org/details/castiglione-lost-genius.-royal-collection-trust./mode/2up?view=theater

and there are poems, even in our lifetimes ...

and as for music ... jun miyake's LILLIES OF THE VALLEY ... isn't about Circe ... but it's fluent rhythms and counterpoints suggest that feeling of being irresistably drawn towards a mystery ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0lFe0MHjU

of course, as the culture of humanity evolves, so the old myths may lose their relevance ... there are always new minds ready and willing to pillage the old myths for shoddy new variants ...

Ganymede ...

In England, and wherever people speak that same language, the myth about Ganymede tends to be glossed over ... he is abducted by Jove in the form of an Eagle to live amongst the immortals as Jove's cup-bearer ... the bit that gets left out is the messy bit about forced sex between a male adult and a male child, or youth.  This kind of sex was acceptable to the Greeks in ancient times, and remains a "fact of life" universally, although it is quite properly unacceptable to most people.

The THEOI website states ...

"GANYMEDES (Ganymede) was a handsome Trojan prince who was carried off to heaven by Zeus in the shape of an eagle where he was appointed as cup-bearer of the gods. Ganymedes was also placed amongst the stars as the constellation Aquarius, his ambrosial mixing cup as Crater, and the eagle as Aquila. Ganymedes was often portrayed as the god of homosexual love and as such appears as a playmate of the love-gods Eros (Love) and Hymenaios (Hymenaeus) (Marital Love).

 

Ganymedes was depicted in Greek vase painting as a handsome youth. In scenes of his abduction he holds a rooster (a lover's gift), hoop (a boy's toy), or lyre. When portrayed as the cup-bearer of the gods he pours nectar from a jug. In sculpture and mosaic art Ganymedes usually appears with shepherd's crock and a Phrygian cap.

The boy's name was derived from the Greek words ganumai "gladdening" and mêdon or medeôn, "prince" or "genitals." The name may have been formed to contain a deliberate double-meaning."

In comparitively recent times the mythical stereotypes have morphed, so that  Ganymede is no longer snatched from innocence to debauchery by an Eagle ... in 20th Century Spain, on the roof of several insurance offices, he became a triumphant and heroic figure perched on the shoulder of ... wait for it ... the PHOENIX.

What were the Spaniards thinking ?  And should we see it as symptomatic of the decadence of people whose notion of heroism was tainted with Imperialism and with deeply embedded cultural beliefs of racial superiority ?  I would guess that the people who commissioned this sculpture lived in hope of the revival of Spain as a global power.

 

The story of Ganymede was told many times in Ancient literature.  Details vary.  The classics website THEOI lists and quotes them all ...

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Ganymedes.html

the unicorn tapestries ... a lovely book from the met, published originally back in 1998, is available to read on the internet archive

internet archive accounts are free of charge

https://archive.org/details/unicorntapestrie0000cava/mode/1up?view=theater

and the pages can be read at a high magnification

 

so feast your eyes

and soak up some scholarship