CAPTIONS FOR COLOR PLATES 11-21- Cephalus and Aurora, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Oil on canvas, ca. 1630; 38 X
51^ in. Cephalus gazes at a portrait of Procris, held up to him by a cupid, as he
resists the advances of Aurora. In the background Pegasus waits to pull the chariot
of the Dawn. The sleeping god with the urn is a river-god used by Poussin to sig-
nify a mythological landscape. - The Forge of Vulcan, by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660). Oil on canvas, 1630; 88 X 114
in. Velazquez has painted the moment when Helius tells Hephaestus that his wife,
Aphrodite, is making love to Ares (Homer, Odyssey 8.270-271). At the appearance
of Helius in the forge Hephaestus and his four assistants stop their work on a suit
of armor (perhaps for Ares himself), stunned by the news. Helius, whose white
flesh, blue-thonged sandals, and orange robe contrast with the burly torsos of the
blacksmiths, is both sun-god and Apollo, god of poetry (as his laurel wreath indi-
cates). The rays from his head illuminate the dark forge, while the exquisite white
jug on the mantelpiece provides another focus of light on the opposite side of the
painting. Velazquez catches the intersection of divine omniscience and the black-
smith's toil without diminishing the wit and pathos of Homer's tale. The great
anvil in the left foreground, we know, waits for Hephaestus to forge on it the in-
escapable metal net that will trap the lovers. - The Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Oil on can-
vas, ca. 1637; 45 X 58 in. Amphitrite is at the center, accompanied by Nereids and
Tritons as she rides over the sea in her shell drawn by four dolphins. Neptune
comes alongside his bride in a chariot drawn by four sea-horses. Above, winged
cupids (one with butterfly's wings and one with a wedding torch) strew flowers,
and in the background to the left ride two cupids, above whom fly the swans of
Venus. Poussin exuberantly reinterprets a theme found in Roman floor mosaics
and in Raphael's fresco Galatea (ca. 1512) in the Villa Farnesina at Rome. - Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera, by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Oil on canvas,
1717; 51 X 76 in. To the right, three pairs of lovers prepare to embark for Cythera
(or, perhaps, to sail from the island), while below five other couples approach the
richly ornamented galley, whose shell motifs recall the birth of Venus. An armless
herm of Venus looks down on the lovers from the wood on the right. It is gar-
landed with flowers and Cupid's bow and arrows are tied to it by a ribbon. A half-
naked cupid, seated on his quiver, tugs at the skirt of one of the lovers, and other
cupids fly through the air (one with a torch) and around the galley. The spirit of
love fills Watteau's exquisite landscape, in which eighteenth-century lovers find joy
in the timeless mythological setting. Watteau submitted this painting to the French
Academy as his "reception piece," and he painted a second version (now in Berlin)
in 1718. The Academy gave it the title Unefeste galante (a courtly celebration), but
Watteau's title more accurately expresses the power of the goddess who rules the
island of Cythera.