陽陽日記~Sherry部落格

Orpheus was from Thrace (northeastern Greece), and famous as the most skilled musician of all time, but the primary story involving him is a tragic one, concerning his trip the Underworld.



On the very day of his wedding to his beloved Eurydice, she was accosted by one of the guests, and while fleeing, she was bitten by a poisonous snake, the scene of the first image here, by Renaissance artist Jacopo dell Sellaio. Orpheus was determined to bring his wife back, and embarked on a journey to the Underworld to make his appeal to Hades. This is seen here by three different artists: first by Jan Bruegel (the younger, the same artist who did the Aeneas in the Underworld above), then a Baroque version by Francois Perrier, with Orpheus' instrument looking like a modern violin, rather than his traditional lyre, and the third by Jules Machard from 1865.









Hades granted his request for the return of his wife's spirit, but only under the condition that he not look at her until they had exited to the surface world. The first painting below from 1861 by Jean-Baptiste Corot shows Orpheus leading Eurydice through a forset paradise, but he leads the way without looking at her, as also seen in the sculpture below by Auguste Rodin, 1893.



But at the final moment, just before emerging from the underworld, Orpheus gave into the temptation to turn and look at Eurydice; because he violated the agreement with Hades, her spirit was pulled back, forever lost to him, as seen in the painting below by Bergamo from the Renaissance.



The next two paintings show Orpheus, now having to live with his failure, having removed himself to the forests of his homeland Thrace, to play his music for the animals. The first version is from the Baroque period by Roelandt Savery; the other, by Briton Riviere from 1874, has been called 'Apollo playing the lute', but it most closely corresponds to the theme of Orpheus entertaining the beasts; it is unclear whether the title was given to it by the artist himself or someone else who made the assumption.









The final chapter of the story of Orpheus is also tragic; after losing Eurydice (twice), Orpheus vowed he would never have anything to do with women again (some said he became the first homosexual). But this vow against women offended the Maenads, the followers of Dionysus, who went into a frenzy and attacked Orpheus. After he was killed, they shredded his body to bits and cast them into the sea, but his head floated to an island where it was found still able to speak and sing; it was set up in a shrine where it continued to function as an oracle, until the day Apollo arrived and commanded it to be silent.



The first image is a red figure vase painting showing the Maenads attacking Orpheus in Thracian dress, next is an engraving by Albrecht Dürer (one of the most important German artists of the Renaissance), and then in a painting from the 1860s by Emile Levy.



The last two show the head of Orpheus being found, a strange mystical scene, first by J.W. Waterhouse, and the second, with a woman holding the head and lyre of Orpheus by Gustave Moreau, 1865.



資料來源：



http://www.uwm.edu/Course/mythology/0800/underworld.htm







** 隨意翻雜誌時，看見了一小段介紹orpheus的故事，為它的癡情起了一種雞皮疙瘩，當「看見他快到終點，不放心回頭望愛妻，讓妻永墮冥界」時，覺得好感傷，連結到一種類似心情感受，為說不上來的傷感，有種想掉淚的感覺。08/12月25日 下午 10:40