Polyphemus and Galatea 1700 - 1800

Curator: Oh, look! Here we have an intriguing 18th-century pencil drawing, possibly a preparatory sketch, titled "Polyphemus and Galatea". What's your initial take on this scene? Editor: Mmm, washed out... like a faded memory. It has that yearning feel of a frustrated love story, doesn't it? The muted grays heighten the emotional distance. Curator: Exactly. This artwork, residing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, captures a moment from Ovid's Metamorphoses. See Polyphemus, the lovesick cyclops, over to the left, piping his tunes in vain to woo the sea nymph Galatea. Editor: The flute symbolizes his, ahem, lack of subtlety? I suppose you could say he's playing his heart out... It seems almost comical in contrast to the graceful forms around Galatea. She's the still center of the composition. The little cupids circling give lightness. Curator: Indeed, baroque sensibilities shine through the composition. Galatea, surrounded by attendants and winged cherubs, floats almost impossibly away, in what one imagines would have been a colorful water procession if the drawing was rendered with color. Editor: Water symbolism, very apt! Emotions in flux, the elusiveness of love... I can feel a powerful cultural memory playing through here; the female form seems literally unattainable to the brutish male form. A rather stark illustration, wouldn't you say? Curator: Yes, and the artistic technique heightens this contrast. While Galatea and her entourage exhibit graceful, flowing lines, Polyphemus seems roughly hewn, almost like part of the landscape itself, literally petrified. Editor: Do you feel sympathy for the old chap, Polyphemus? Curator: A smidgen. He's love's eternal outsider, clumsily expressing what he cannot articulate. In any case, it speaks volumes that the artist chose this precise moment – the before, not the after. Editor: I guess, in the grand scheme of art history, he makes an indelible mark for just one eye. Thanks for unpacking all the imagery of cultural weight; it feels like this humble drawing carries a whole universe.