Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons^™

Terrible Beauty : The Many Faces Of Helen Of Troy In Painting From Antiquity To The Nineteenth Century, Lindsay M. Taylor

MA Theses

Helen of Troy is one of the most complex and enigmatic characters from Greek mythology. For nearly two thousand years, her story has consistently been retold, reshaped, and reinterpreted in a rich variety of narratives produced in different contexts for different audiences. In the absence of a canonical version Helen’s tale, philosophers, poets, playwrights, novelists, musicians, filmmakers, and artists in every period have interpreted, modified, and embellished her character in disparate and contradictory terms. Consequently, she has played a significant role in Western artistic canon in a way no other figure from Greek mythology has been able to accomplish; she …