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Associate publisher Gwen Roginsky and her teenage daughter Ana Sofia Meneses relish the drama of the dysfunctional family that is the Olympians.
Gwen: My name is Gwen Roginsky and I work in the editorial department here at the Metropolitan Museum, and I'm with my daughter to talk about the Greek gods and goddesses, specifically first and second generation of the twelve Olympians. Ana Sofia: I am Ana Sofia Meneses, I'm the daughter. I'm generally the one that has the information and mom asks questions.
Gwen: When we're talking about gods and goddesses, not about everything else. As I've walked through the museum every day for many, many years, since way before she was born, I look at the works and I see certain things that I know from art history
from knowing the museum, from knowing the works. And now that Ana Sofia sometimes walks through the museum with me, she sees them in a completely different way. She's into the mythology, into the gods and goddesses.
She looks at them and she sees the story. Ana Sofia: They're creative, different from a lot of children's stories you hear today.
It's a family, a very dysfunctional family. They're so powerful, and yet, they have human characteristics: they get jealous, they get angry
they're happy, sometimes they make mistakes. They have their own histories, and they have personalities.
It's kind of refreshing to know that, well, if you believe in that, that the people who are above you are really a lot like you.
Gwen: I always think of Ana Sofia with Athena, 'cause I know Athena's her favorite goddess, and I think she's wise about all of this and she's always made very good decisions.
Ana Sofia: I think what I love about her so much is that she does so many things, from war to crafts.
She would help her father. She always had a strategy, that's kind of her thing. And... Gwen: Like you do. Ana Sofia: Yeah.
Gwen: Mars wears the helmet too. Ana Sofia: Well, to use their Greek names, Ares is the god of bloody war and violence. Not a lot of artists have depicted Ares. You can't really make him beautiful. He just has a lot of anger. Like high school students today have a lot of anger. But
Aphrodite liked him. She cheated on Hephaistos with him and they had Eros, who most people know as Cupid. Gwen: But, she looks great there. She'd be my favorite, look at her. So how did she get away with all of these
love affairs she had? Ana Sofia: She's the goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure. People...people love her. Kind of sad, to think about it.
In this painting, she probably just said, "Play me the lute," and he's like "Okay, okay, I get to play this beautiful goddess the lute." Gwen: "And look at her while I'm doing it." Ana Sofia: Yeah, so, a lot of times she gets things handed to her.
Ana Sofia: Dionysos is the party animal. He has his party crew, they just kind of follow him and drink wine. Gwen: So who wouldn't like him? He sounds popular.
Ana Sofia: I don't suggest doing everything that he's done, but, yeah, he definitely is a social butterfly.
Of course the parents. I know people who are jealous, like Hera. Gwen: The rotten parents.
Ana Sofia: People who love attention and power, like Zeus. And motherly people like
Demeter. Mom loves Demeter. I don't really know why, would you like to explain that? Gwen: Hades came and took away her daughter. Ana Sofia: Persephone. Gwen: Persephone, and
brought her down to the underworld and Demeter, you know, was very unhappy and would wait for her to come back months and months and months. If you were to be taken away somewhere, I would be very upset and waiting for you to come back.
The parenting skills of the gods sound to me like they were pretty nonexistent. Ana Sofia: You want to compare it with your own parenting skills? Gwen: I don't have too many parenting skills either, though, so, maybe they bicker with each other the same way we bicker with each other.
Ana Sofia: Well, actually, most of the second generation Olympians, weren't raised by their parents. Most of them were
just stuck with nymphs somewhere, usually on a mountain or in a cave or something. Gwen: So it was kind of like abandoned parenting. But that's not very good parenting.
Ana Sofia: I always am happy that you're not Hera because today I was having a bad hair day and mom understood.
And she didn't say, "Oh, I can't...I can't be seen with you. You're having a bad hair day." She's not judgmental like that.
I don't think she'll ever throw me off a mountain. At least I hope not. Gwen: And I don't think you have too many rules. Ana Sofia: Well, you're just always there for me, which is more than
I can say about most of the Olympian parents.
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Works of art in order of appearanceLast Updated: June 22, 2015. Not all works of art in the Museum's collection may be on view on a particular day. For the most accurate location information, please check this page on the day of your visit. |
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Sarcophagus with the contest between the Muses and the Sirens third quarter of 3rd century a.d.; Late Imperial, Gallienic Roman; in the Villa Nero, Rome, about 1640; later, in the Giardino Torrigiani, Florence Pentelic marble Rogers Fund, 1910 (10.104) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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The Return of Neptune ca. 1754 John Singleton Copley (American) Oil on canvas Gift of Mrs. Orme Wilson, in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Nelson Borland, 1959 (59.198) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) ca. 440 b.c.; Red-figure Attributed to the Persephone Painter Greek, Attic Terracotta Fletcher Fund, 1928 (28.57.23) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche ca. 1550 Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Medulich or Meldolla) (Italian) Oil on wood Purchase, Gift of Mary V. T. Eberstadt, by exchange, 1972 (1973.116) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Lekythos (oil flask) depicting Poseidon pursuing Amymone ca. 440 b.c.; Red-figure Attributed to the Phiale Painter Greek, Attic Terracotta Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.230.35) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Diana the Huntress after 1526 Giampietrino (Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli) (Italian, Milanese) Oil on wood Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson Gift, 1989 (1989.21) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Head of Athena late 3rd–early 2nd century b.c.; Hellenistic Greek Marble Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1996 (1996.178) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Minerva 18th century (1766) Clodion (Claude Michel) (French) Rome, Italy Terracotta Purchase, Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.312.6) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Minerva and the Muses 1515 Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Medulic or Meldolla) (Italian) Etching and drypoint Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927 (27.78.2[99]) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Marble relief fragment with the head of Mars early 3rd century a.d.; Mid-Imperial Roman Marble Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.145.49) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Mars and Venus United by Love 1570s Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (Italian, Venetian) Oil on canvas John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1910 (10.189) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Vulcan at His Forge with Mars and Venus 1543 Enea Vico (Italian), after Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (Italian, Parma) Engraving; first state, partially trimmed on sides The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.97.351) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Venus and the Lute Player ca. 1565–70 Titian and Workshop (Italian, Venetian) Oil on canvas Munsey Fund, 1936 (36.29) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons Sarcophagus ca. 260–270 Roman Marble Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1955 (55.11.5) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Bacchanal with a Wine Vat 1470s Andrea Mantegna (Italian) Engraving and drypoint Purchase, Rogers Fund, The Charles Engelhard Foundation Gift, and The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1986 (1986.1159) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Juno 18th century Anonymous (Italian) Pen and gray ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk on cream laid paper; framing outline in pen and brown ink Gift of Cephas G. Thompson, 1887 (87.12.109) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Cameo fragment with Jupiter astride an eagle 1st century b.c.–1st century a.d. Roman (or possibly Late Hellenistic) Sardonyx Gift of Milton Weil, 1932 (32.142.2) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Marble head of a deity 1st half of 2nd century a.d.; Imperial Roman Marble Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.122.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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The Rape of Proserpina ca. 1750 Italian; Doccia Hard-paste porcelain Purchase, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1997 (1997.377) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Venus and Cupid late 1520s Lorenzo Lotto (Italian, Venetian) Oil on canvas Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Marietta Tree, 1986 (1986.138) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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The Birth of Venus 1875 Alexandre Cabanel (French) Oil on canvas Gift of John Wolfe, 1893 (94.24.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Nymphs and Satyrs in a Landscape 1599 or before Joseph Heintz the Elder (Swiss) Pen and brown ink, brown wash, red chalk, heightened with white body color, on yellow tinted paper Purchase, 2006 Benefit Fund, 2007 (2007.174) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Education of the Infant Bacchus first half of 19th century Niccolò Amastini (Italian) Rome Onyx; framed in gold with four perforations for attachment The Milton Weil Collection, 1940 (40.20.30) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Marble votive relief fragment of goddesses, mother, nurse, and infant late 5th century b.c.; Classical Greek Marble, Island Fletcher Fund, 1924 (24.97.92) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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