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Thomas Hart Benton, "Persephone," 1938. Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

Ken Burns put together a short film and some useful instruction. He writes: 'At times, Benton took pleasure in the profane. Persephone, his notorious nude, cost Benton his job at the Kansas City Art Institute but hung for a time in showman Billy Roses' New York nightclub, The Diamond Horseshoe. '

Mythologically, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter (of Zeus and Styx in another tradition). She is abducted by her father's consent by her uncle Hades. Although Zeus bids Hades return the girl to her mother, Persephone's consumption of a pomegranate seed made it impossible for her to return to the realm of the living forever. The great Homeric Hymn to Demeter is the most complete narrative.