J. E. Bernstock, "Classical Mythology in Twentieth-Century Art: an overview of a humanistic approach," Artibus et Historiae14 (1993), 153-83.   http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483450
— "The classical heritage is still a strong force with which the twentieth-century artist must contend. ... when it comes to mythological themes, the modern artists still measure themselves against the past." (159)  After theoretical overview, specific treatments of individual myths follow: Prometheus, Venus, Apollo and Dionysus, Orpheus, Oedipus, Odysseus, Minotaur, and Daedalus and Icarus.
— "Modern representations of Orpheus tend to fall into two categories: those that idealize him and those that focus on his weakness, universalized to that of the creative individual. The larger group encompasses works whose origins may ultimately be traced to the early Greek conception of Orpheus and the founder of a religious cult, and as a figure of peace and calm, a musician whose nostes could move and tame all of nature. He is the champion of humanism, the civilizer of nature, and the representative of suffering multitudes. (170)