\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx8790\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 Among the gods of Mount Olympus the splendid Venus, goddess of love, was undoubtedly one of th
e most popular subjects with artists. Her legendary beauty was well suited to the depiction of perfect and voluptuous nudes.\par
Born from the foam of the sea and pure as a pearl in a shell, the representation of the birth of Venus could even assume re
ligious significance, conjuring up the image of the pure, baptized soul.\par
Venus is often depicted with her son Cupid, or Eros, a mischievous winged child who was able to make people fall in love by shooting his arrows at them.\par
Vulcan, the blacks
mith god and husband of Venus, was infamous among the gods of Olympus for his ugliness. According to myth Vulcan, the custodian of fire, angrily punished Prometheus for stealing a spark from the gods and giving it to humanity.\par
Just like the birth o
f Venus, pictures of the god Bacchus û or Dionysus û could be assigned a Christian value, with the deity seen as a prefiguration of Christ. Dead and risen again like the Redeemer, DionysusÆ attributes include grapes, wine and the pomegranate, symbols th
at were adopted by the early Christians as metaphors for Christ.\par
\pard\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 Another myth that alludes to the themes of death and rebirth, in connection with the alternation of the seasons, is that of Proserpine, or Persephone, t
he daughter of Zeus who was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. To alleviate her mother DemeterÆs sorrow, Persephone was allowed to return to the world of the living every year, at the onset of spring.
