Endymion in art

In art from ancient Greece to the late 18th century, Endymion is depicted most often as a young man sleeping. He is sometimes portrayed as a hunter, holding a spear, or a herder, with a shepherd’s crook. Occasionally, Selene stands beside him and is identified by a crescent on her forehead.

In later paintings Artemis (Diana) or other mythical goddesses are substituted for Selene. Sometimes the couple are joined by a young Eros (Cupid), the god of love. Often, a dog appears in the scene, perhaps alluding to the hunt that the sleeping Endymion will only enjoy in his dreams.

In Greek vase painting, only a few representations of Endymion exist, and although Pausanias mentions an ivory statue of Endymion at Olympia, not a single Greek statue of Endymion survives. By contrast, the sleeping figure of Endymion appears often in Roman painting, sculpture, and mosaics. There are also numerous representations of Endymion and Selene in the fTescoes of Pompeii, and he was a popular figure on Roman sarcophagi from the late first century BCE onward. One explanation for the popularity of Endymion in funerary art is that his death was seen as a liberation by a deity from earthly existence, followed by an eternal slumber. This is supported by Cicero (106—43 BCE), a Roman statesman and author, who wrote that the sleep of Endymion was a comforting vision of death.

Few notable sculptures of Endymion were created until the early 19th century, when Italian artist Antonio Canova (1757—1822) produced one around 1820. Of the many paintings of Endymion, the most famous are those by the late-16th-century artists Titian and Tintoretto, the 17th-century painters Van Dyck, Poussin, and Rubens, and the 18th-century painters Boucher and Fragonard.

In literature the story of the sleeping youth also inspired English poet John Keats (1795—1821). Keats wrote a long allegory titled Endymion, published in 1818, which was an imaginary search for ideal beauty. The poem begins with the famous line,“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.”

Feyo Schuddeboom

Bibliography

Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch’s Mythology. New York: Barnes &

Noble, 2006.

Howatson, M. C. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Sirracos, Constantine. History of the Olympic Games. Long Island City, NY: Seaburn Books, 2000.

Steinhoff, Stephen, ed. Keats’ “Endymion”: A Critical Edition. New York: Whitson Publishing Company, 1987.