(As
Tom Lehrer said)
In honor of my story
Three Legs in the Evening appearing in
The Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica, I thought I'd post some Oedipus art. Now there are in fact quite a few classic paintings out there which show Oedipus as he features in my tale, blind and disgraced and cast down from the throne, but those aren't terribly cheerful or sexy. I thought I'd concentrate on the
Sphinx bit of the story today. Because those pictures are distinctly and amusingly pervy.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINUuvIXLvRJpIcb2hQdQg0DwYSqLNdy4bxdtCm58-83W6jQIbf1DgLZp-u4eqNopeMasD4N8e7Ph0GV5OTfBOxNZCnacR94p1uOq6XWEMTRsme3uFoYT6ES7m7aj5Fxtt77erwoL_Rbg/s1600/oedipus-and-the-sphinx-gustave-moreau.jpg) |
Where are her feet? |
The picture above is
Oedipus and the Sphinx by
Gustave Moreau (1864). It wasn't his only shot at the subject - here's
Oedipus the Wanderer (1888):
It's worth noting, I think, the marked beauty of the protagonists in both pictures. And the sphinx's fine boobs.
Boobs are important to many artists ... and their clients.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FQcuR0xZRUvRvdvcZHbSJhaEILukxSjC7d6Tq-qmiYjKWPiDhzI-8wS1hLjCdeLzl0JcGvVR3mkstztwjP1frfytxYtjw3aJGNOwG-hgN6KEYyzQgP5GYyfsO5nFOGHcKC3c3z1eoHU/s1600/IngresOdipusAndSphinx.jpg) |
1808 |
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres painted several versions of
Oedipus and the Sphinx over the years - and in each one Oedipus is eye-to-eye with an outstandingly perky pair of knockers.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZxopfB1QAzzEnfnAzxGBIwzBQhlXE-fh3fAgGLzs6dNlcQGXNM0TZvaohbkI2o4_PLZruPlyPg1J0kVdfRpseIgIMvRSVxJqASfUp9Nn9xt0mjwHwdG7lan0589Q07vT2zBwjku0y8M/s1600/ingres2.jpg) |
1864 - Note that her face is almost totally in shadow. Not that he's looking at her face anyway. |
The sphinx,as a female monster, tends to be highly sexualised in western art. Lust and death in one bestial, mysterious package.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_bZY8dPrA6NxmPmiu-bIBajduOo3ox9Jxf-_aHeaxvDdngVyI9-cLNzQYClDlkiX8K4X1FCJgYYCXSLu9gt4pDlQ-iwiAOAuxaWKVOP0OUiI526RcD9lRE-3lf8vg-WNK_I9ENj8YxmA/s1600/oedipus_and_the_sphinx7.jpg) |
(I can't find the artist, but it would appear to be another symbolist.) |
This next painting has a bare-breasted sphinx too ... but to be honest I'd guess the artist way preferred painting blokes:
This is all despite the fact that the ancient Greeks didn't seem to think that a sphinx ought to have breasts at all:
And to be fair, the odd Victorian/Edwardian artist did take their cue from that:
The results are actually a bit disturbing - deprived of human mammaries, the sphinx looks more like a mutated animal and less like a respectable monster. This one is just plain freaky:
The sphinx in my story
Three Legs in the Evening is a lot
bigger than most of the depictions here. In fact by sheer luck I have found the
perfect likeness to the picture in my head and my text :-)
And since you've made it this far I will reward you with a picture of Oedipus' mother/wife:
Jocasta (1913) by
Harold Speed.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwElWmLd9eXqKxMo16n6g74T39zCfOv0A5YLnfABtSD6VxCADb1VdWzkE3chujO3EzamTqmXiDODyMx5_BhkELbGt97w4kYiSsZxBiwVaiOVN-OrS-cbEe9-sw9JewhVqDmDA1OR1od2w/s1600/Harold+Speed+1913+Jocasta.jpg) |
Do you think she's just heard some bad news? |
2 comments:
New riddle: "What has scaly pecs in antiquity, boobs in the neoclassical era, and a full-length leopard coat at the turn of the century?"
Hahaha, perfect stance and expression! Poor Jocasta.
Jeremy, that's an excellent riddle :) What has it got in its leopard skin pocketses?
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