Graphic illustrations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses

A selection of the most important executions

Abstract

ALEKSANDRA GIELDON-PASZEK (Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice) / Graphic illustrations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A selection of the most important executions

Ovid’s Metamorphoses has inspired artists of various disciplines almost from the very moment of its creation. The poem has been the literary canvas of many paintings. It was particularly popular in the early modern period. Its numerous editions from the Middle Ages were decorated first with miniatures, and, after the invention of printing, with illustrations, made in the technique of woodcut, copperplate engraving, and etching. The composition of scenes known from the poem was based on a simultaneous and multi-thread narration and also, later, focused on one specific moment of the selected episode. The authorship of the illustrations found in early editions remains anonymous. The graphic designers of 16th c. and later editions are known by name: Jörg Wickram, Virgilio Solis, Bernard Solomon, Hendrick Goltzius, Francis Cleyn, Salomon Savery, Godfried Maes, and in the 20th c. Pablo Picasso. Ovid’s poem continues to be interpretated, as evidenced by the works of, for example, Kiki Smith and the Polish queer artist Mikolaj Sobczak.