Penelope Writes to Odysseus
I am still in awe of these amazing little Medieval illustrations of the classical Greek and Latin heroines of Ovid writing imaginary epistles. Ovid’s work was translated into French by poet Octavien de Saint-Gelais, and it so delighted Louise of Savoy (1476-1531), mother of the future king Francis I of France, that she commissioned artist Robinet Testard to decorate a sumptuous manuscript of Ovid with these beautiful miniature portraits of the heroines writing their own stories. Each one is so different ..caught in the unique drama of her life — some beautiful, some rather violent. (And really…so many bad husbands and rotten boyfriends…) Here’s a sample of some of my favorites …but do, stop by La Folia Magazine and indulge in all the others. All these heroines writing their own stories provides fuel and words for my own characters who are impatient to write down their (mis)adventures.
Medea Writes to Jason
Ariadne Writes to Theseus
Hypsipyle Writes to Jason (double rotter)
Double rotter! Hah. These are so charming…
Aren’t they? Two of them rather tragic — writing a message while stabbing yourself (because your man is a rotter!) takes heroic fortitude. I love all the detail the artist used — their rooms, the postures, their clothing, the way they held themselves when writing. Ariadne is so sad, and that braid of hair twisted around her arm suggesting the rope with which she helped that forgetful Theseus. All of them looking out the window while ships carried away those feckless lovers and husbands.
I feel the artist cared about all those heroines and perhaps because he want to please Louise of Savory — he painted them carefully for another woman to enjoy and relate to those mythic figures. I want a book like this! I would probably read more Ovid if I did.
If you find one, I want one too! You were on my brain today for some reason, so here I am again. I, too, like all the little details of clothing (lovely layers and glimpses) and hair and hangings and so on–the way the ships in the first image look like more stained glass in the window, the way each one handles the sea in an entirely different way (like cloth, like fish scales, like peaks, like wavering lines in glass.)
And now, good night from the snowy northeastern side of the continent!