Love and Callisto
Compare and contrast the following sources:
1 Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.898 – 14.74 (sections entitled ‘Glaucus and Scylla I’ and ‘Glaucus and Scylla II’, pp.541–5 and 548–51 of the set book).
2 Holkham Ms 324 f.137 v. Scylla rejects Glaucus, Circe 's love potion deforms
Scylla, from ‘Metamorphoses 14’ by Ovid, 1479 (vellum).
The illumination from the Holkham Hall manuscript (bridgemaneducation.com.) is a retelling of the myth of Glaucus and Scylla from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 13.898-967 and 14.1-74). The manuscript was commissioned Raphael de Marcatelis a bishop, in the 1490’s (DVD-ROM) fifteen hundred years after Ovid wrote his epic poem. In the illumination the artist seems to have fore-grounded the main narrative events of Ovid’s version of the myth. The narrative flows around the page in an unconventional order of sequence and appears to begin in the centre of the image with Glaucus, dressed in red and blue, arriving in a sailing boat. It then moves down to the left where Glaucus meets Scylla, the position of their hands suggest they are talking, although Scylla’s eyes are downcast implying her rejecting Glaucus. The narrative moves up to Glaucus sailing towards another land where he engages in conversation with a woman, probably Circe, wearing a lilac. It then jumps to the bottom where Scylla is standing in a pool after her transformation, next to the pool stand two figures, one wearing pink with an elaborate headdress which might be Circe. Behind Scylla is Glaucus with his hands raised upwards in a gesture indicating distress, he is then shown walking away possibly signifying his rejection of Circe.
However, it is how the artist has represented the characters and setting that provides an understanding of the social and cultural context to which this version of Glaucus and Scylla was received. In the fifteenth century the production of texts based on classical literature was widespread, however, the Christian church had a
1 Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.898 – 14.74 (sections entitled ‘Glaucus and Scylla I’ and ‘Glaucus and Scylla II’, pp.541–5 and 548–51 of the set book).
2 Holkham Ms 324 f.137 v. Scylla rejects Glaucus, Circe 's love potion deforms
Scylla, from ‘Metamorphoses 14’ by Ovid, 1479 (vellum).
The illumination from the Holkham Hall manuscript (bridgemaneducation.com.) is a retelling of the myth of Glaucus and Scylla from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 13.898-967 and 14.1-74). The manuscript was commissioned Raphael de Marcatelis a bishop, in the 1490’s (DVD-ROM) fifteen hundred years after Ovid wrote his epic poem. In the illumination the artist seems to have fore-grounded the main narrative events of Ovid’s version of the myth. The narrative flows around the page in an unconventional order of sequence and appears to begin in the centre of the image with Glaucus, dressed in red and blue, arriving in a sailing boat. It then moves down to the left where Glaucus meets Scylla, the position of their hands suggest they are talking, although Scylla’s eyes are downcast implying her rejecting Glaucus. The narrative moves up to Glaucus sailing towards another land where he engages in conversation with a woman, probably Circe, wearing a lilac. It then jumps to the bottom where Scylla is standing in a pool after her transformation, next to the pool stand two figures, one wearing pink with an elaborate headdress which might be Circe. Behind Scylla is Glaucus with his hands raised upwards in a gesture indicating distress, he is then shown walking away possibly signifying his rejection of Circe.
However, it is how the artist has represented the characters and setting that provides an understanding of the social and cultural context to which this version of Glaucus and Scylla was received. In the fifteenth century the production of texts based on classical literature was widespread, however, the Christian church had a
Bibliography: Euripides, Medea and Other Plays, in Davie, J. (trans.); Rutherford, R. (introduction and notes), (2003[1996]), London, Penguin Books. Ovid, Metamorphoses, in Raeburn D (trans), (2004), Metamorphoses, London, Penguin. James, P. And Hughes, J. (2011 [2010]), A 330 Block 3 ‘Ovid and the Reception of Myth’ Milton Keynes: The Open University Johnson, W.R Textual Sources 1, (2010), A330 Myth in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Block 3, Hardwick, L. ‘From the Classical Tradition to Reception Studies’, (pp187-193), Milton Keynes, The Open University.