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Atlas
and the Hesperides
John
Singer Sargent
-- American painter
1922–25
Museum
of Fine Arts,
Boston
Colonnade
Stairway Side Aisle mural
Center mural
Oil on
canvas
Diameter,
unframed: 307.3 cm (120 in.)
Francis
Bartlett Donation
of 1912 and Picture Fund 25.643
Jpg: MFA
(See
interactive zoom
at the MFA)
Atlas's job was to
hold up the earth.
He also owned the pillars that kept the earth and sky apart (which we
see
in the background). Atlas was the father of the Hesperides -- the
nymphs of sleep, and who (when they weren't sleeping) were supposed to
guard
the Hesperides garden which contained a tree that produced golden
apples.
The tree had been given to Hera when she married Zeus as a wedding gift
by the goddess Gaia (goddess of Mother Earth). The Hesperides garden
was
located next to where Apollo lived (the god of the sun) which we are
seeing
in the distance.
To steal the golden
apples would
be Hercules' eleventh labor (see Hercules and the Hydra).
Hercules
and the Hydra
Notes:
- See the year in
review 1925
Stairway
Ceiling Decorations
Looking
straight up
Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston
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