PirithousHippodamiaWedding1.0035_Canova

PirithousHippodamiaWedding1.0035_Canova

OGCMA s.v. "Pirithous, Wedding of P. and Hippodamia"
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna site
Ovid Met.12.393-430

Antonio Canova, "Theseus Battling the Centaur," 1804-1819, marble sculpture group, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, main stairs; originally comissioned for display in the Theseum in Vienna's Volkspark.

The dramatic placement of this extraordinarily active sculpture group is not where it was originally meant to be be displayed.

The image at right is derived from Wikipedia Commons.

Marble sculpture of Theseus battling a Centaur, set against a dark marble wall with ornate gold details

For OGCMA references, it is worth noting that Reid refers to this piece s.v. "Pirithous and Hippodamia, Wedding" but not s.v. "Theseus."

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Pavanello 1976, no. 174
Licht 1983 p. 198

There is a folder full of images at OGCMA/0904Pirithous
Wedding_CanovaFolder.

Contrast this very traditional depiction of the Lapithocentauromachy with Ovid's surprisingly avant garde distraction. Ovid focuses the attention on the death of Cyllarus and the plight of Hyloneme. The Parthenon frieze, like this, relishes the conflict between man and nature rife in the Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.