today, these creatures continue to thrill, terrify, entertain, and inspire us …

1. instilling fear, revulsion, devotion, or wonderment ...

3. a three headed dog, pet of Hades,
a many-headed, serpent-like creature that guarded an Underworld entrance beneath Lake Lerna,
giants humanoids of extraordinary size, strength, and appetite, often with little intelligence,
a woodland creature that had the body of a man with the ears and tail of a goat or horse, sometimes with hooves,
today, these creatures continue to thrill, terrify, entertain, and inspire us …

4. Dangerous Monsters and Mythological Creatures
in paintings
(2)

5. Siren
in Greek mythology monstrous sea-nymphs who lured sailors to their death with a bewitching song.
Were depicted as birds with either the heads or entire upper bodies of women or women with the legs of birds.
Later portrayals of Sirens made them look like seductive women and minimized their bird features.

6. Sirens with skulls and bones at their feet ...
yes, that's how they look in Greek mythology:
a combination of women and birds!
Hans Thoma
Three sirens on the beach
Trois sirènes sur la plage
1877
Private collection

9. two sirens very human down to the waist, below which they resemble birds,
one very attractive, the other, obese, almost comical
and
at their feet three human skulls and others bones to indicate their graver
intentions
Arnold Böcklin
Sirens
Sirènes
1875
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

12. three naked sirens very human, one playing a lyre,
and doing their best to draw the sailors from Odysseus’ ship
and
a shore on which lie the remains of earlier victims …
William Etty
The Sirens and Ulysses
Les Sirènes et Ulysse
c 1837
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester

15. Cetus
a predatory sea monster, terrifying and fierce,
depicted as a large serpent-like monster with long rows of sharp teeth.
They frequently also have two upper limbs which are sometimes fins and other times claws.
Cetus comes to prominence during the adventures of the Greek hero Perseus.

16. a man, a woman and a monster ...
Perseus (who does not fly)
Andromeda (tied to the tree)
and
the Cetus monster (a big, very peaceful crocodile)
Arnold Böcklin
Ruggiero and Angelica
Roger Freeing Angelica
Roger libérant Angelica
1873
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin State Museums, Berlin

19. princess Andromeda chained to a rock,
Perseus arrives astride Pegasus
and
Cetus has a head of big dog and a body of crocodile ...
Giuseppe Cesari
Perseus frees Andromeda
Persée délivre Andromède
1594-1595
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

22. Perseus’ mount wingless
Andromeda lacks the fearful facial expression
Cetus appears slightly less prepared for a drop-in snack
and
and around Andromeda's feet, shells, whose relevance is unclear,
a human skull, skeleton and some bones.
Joachim Wtewael
Perseus Freeing Andromeda
Persée secourant Andromède
1611
Musée du Louvre, Paris

25. Andromeda, chained at the ankle, languidly awaits
her fate as a sacrifice
and
Cetus looking surprised at the imminent arrival
from the sky of Perseus
Gustave Moreau
Perseus and Andromeda II
Persée et Andromède II
1870
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol

28. Andromeda whit a grimace of slightly anxious disgust
towards the monster,
Perseus, completely naked, without winged sandals,
without Medusa’s head,
and
Cetus as an alligator, fangs bared, mouth open …
Félix Edouard Vallotton
Perseus Killing the Dragon
Persée tuant le dragon
1910
Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, Ville de Genève

32. Lernaean Hydra
a gigantic, nine-headed water-serpent, which haunted the swamps of Lerna,
a poisonous monster with multiple serpent-like heads on the body of a dog, which could kill with its breath alone

33. the encounter between Hercules (Heracles)
and the monstrous Hydra during the second of his labours
… for each head that he removed, two grew back.
Enlisting the assistance of his friend Iolaus to cauterize
the severed heads with fire, Hercules managed to remove
the one immortal head using a golden sword provided
by the goddess Athena, and that killed it.
Franz von Stuck
Hercules and the Lernean Hydra
Hercule et l’Hydre de Lerne
1915
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich

36. a ferocious fight between the hero and the legendary multi-headed monster …
Antonio del Pollaiolo
Hercules and the Hydra
Hercule et l’Hydre
1475
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

39. Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra
the seven-headed Hydra, a serpentine monster whose dead
and dying victims lie strewn about a swampy ground
calm and youthful, Hercules stands amid the carnage,
weapon in hand, ready to sever the Hydra’s seventh,
“immortal” head
Gustave Moreau
Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra
Hercule et l’Hydre de Lerne
1876
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

42. Sphinx
a female monster with the body of a lion, the head and breast of a woman, eagle's wings and a serpent's tail.
She was sent by the gods to plague the town of Thebes as punishment for some ancient crime, preying on its youths
and devouring all who failed to solve her riddle.
Oedipus took up the challenge, and when he solved the Sphinx's riddle, she cast herself off the mountainside in despair.

43. ... having replied to the famous enigma defining a man,
Oedipus will continue his path towards his terrible destiny
Gustave Moreau
Œdipe Traveler or Equality Behind Death
Œdipe voyageur ou L'Égalité devant la Mort
1888
Musée de la Cour d’Or, Metz

46. a infernal, disquieting monster ...
the Sphinx with its radiantly beautiful womanly face
and sculpted wings,
and
the grotesque head and body of the chimera
Louis Welden Hawkins
The Sphinx and the Chimera
Le Sphinx et la Chimère
1906
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

49. Leviathan
a mythical creature with the form of a sea serpent (or of a crocodile or a particularly crabby whale).
Is mentioned several times in the Old Testament of the Bible, Leviathan roamed the sea, breathing fire and spewing
smoke from his nostrils. Its skin was impenetrable, "and iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood”.
Some scholars interpret the leviathan as a symbol of chaos, of great disorder or confusion, rather like other
such monsters of mythology.
Leviathan is also one of the main demons of hell. In the Middle Ages he was represented as an open mouth
that swallowed souls, symbolizing the entrance to hell.

50. the story of Aeneas with the Cumaean Sibyl
from Virgil's Aeneid …
Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburgh, attribué à
Enée aux enfers, Enée conduit par la Sibylle aux enfers, La Barque
de Charon
Aeneas and Sibilla in the underworld, Charon's boat
1625
Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles

54. a monstrous open mouth that looks like the opening to a dark cave,
pointed teeth hang down like stalactites ...
this is Leviathan, the mythical sea monster of the Old Testament,
swallowing up the souls cursed to hell
El Greco
The Adoration of the Name of Jesus
L’Adoration du nom de Jésus, dit aussi Le Songe de Philippe II
1578-1580
National Gallery, London

58. a whole menagerie of invented monsters …
Hieronymus Bosch, Matthias Grünewald

59. a complete zoo of weird beasts ...
a bird with human legs,
a peacock-like posterior,
the bill of a spoonbill
Jheronimus Bosch
Hermit Saints Triptych, Saint Anthony left panel
Triptyque des Ermites, panneau de gauche Saint Antoine
1505
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

63. sublime hybrid demons torment Anthony’s waking and sleeping
hours …
Trampled to the ground, beaten with sticks, torn by claws and bitten,
Saint Anthony appeals to God for help who sends angels
to combat these evil demons.
Matthias Grünewald
Isenheim Altarpiece Temptation of Saint Anthony
Retable d'Issenheim La Tentation de saint Antoine
1515
Musée Unterlinden, Colmar

70. olga_oes
Dangerous Monsters and Mythological Creatures in paintings (2)
Monstres dangereux et créatures mythologiques dans la peinture (2)
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys Für Elise Jam
created olga.e.
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