In book 10 ofOvid'sMetamorphoses, Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory alabaster. Post-classical sources name herGalatea.
According to Ovid, when Pygmalion saw thePropoetides of Cyprus practicing prostitution, he began "detesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women".[1] He determined to remaincelibate and to occupy himself with sculpting. He made a sculpture of a woman that he found so perfect he fell in love with it. Pygmalion kissed and fondled the sculpture, brought it various gifts, and created a sumptuous bed for it.
In time,Aphrodite's festival day came and Pygmalion made offerings at the altar of Aphrodite. There, too afraid to admit his desire, he quietly wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl". When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue, and found that its lips felt warm. He kissed it again, and found that the ivory had lost its hardness. Aphrodite had granted Pygmalion's wish.
Pygmalion married the ivory sculpture, which changed to a woman under Aphrodite's blessing. In Ovid's narrative, they had a daughter, Paphos, from whom is derived the name of thecity. Ovid's mention of Paphos suggests that he was drawing on a more circumstantial account[2] than the source for a passing mention of Pygmalion in Pseudo-Apollodorus'Bibliotheke, a Hellenic mythography of the 2nd-century AD.[3] Perhaps he drew on the lost narrative byPhilostephanus that was paraphrased byClement of Alexandria.[4] In the story ofDido, Pygmalion is an evil king.
The story of the breath of life in a statue has parallels in the examples ofDaedalus, who usedquicksilver to install a voice in his statues or to make them move; ofHephaestus, who createdautomata for his workshop; ofTalos, an artificial man of bronze, and (according toHesiod) ofPandora, who was made from clay at the behest ofZeus.
The moral anecdote of the "Apega of Nabis", recounted by the historianPolybius, described a supposed mechanical simulacrum of the tyrant's wife, that crushed victims in her embrace.
Thetrope of a sculpture so life-like that it seemed about to move was a commonplace with writers on works of art in antiquity. This trope was inherited by writers on art after theRenaissance. An example of this trope appears inWilliam Shakespeare's play,The Winter's Tale, where the king of Sicily is presented with an extremely lifelike statue of his wife (which is actually his wife, long presumed dead).
At an unknown date, later authors give as the name of the statue that of the sea-nymphGalatea or Galathea.Goethe calls her Elise, based upon the variants in the story ofDido/Elissa.
Pygmalion byJean-Baptiste Regnault, 1786, Musée National du Château et des TrianonsMiniature from a 14th-century manuscript of Pygmalion working on his sculpture
Ovid's Pygmalion has inspired many works of literature, some of which are listed below. The popularity of the Pygmalion myth surged in the 19th century.
Arthur Henry Hallam's poem "Lines Spoken in the Character of Pygmalion" from his workRemains in verse and prose of Arthur Henry Hallam: With a preface and memoir (1863)[8]
Robert Buchanan's poem "Pygmalion the Sculptor" in his workUndertones (1864)[9]
William Morris's poem "Earthly Paradise" in which he includes the section "Pygmalion and the Image" (1868)[10]
Though it is not based on the story of Pygmalion, Shakespeare's playMeasure for Measure references Pygmalion in a line spoken by Lucio in Act 3, Scene 2: "What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd?"[28]
George Bernard Shaw'sPygmalion (1912, staged 1913) owes something to both the Greek Pygmalion and the legend of "KingCophetua and the beggar maid"; in which a king lacks interest in women, but one day falls in love with a young beggar-girl, later educating her to be his queen. Shaw'scomedy of manners in turn was the basis for theBroadway musicalMy Fair Lady (1956), as well as numerous other adaptations.
P. L. Deshpande's playTi Fulrani ("Queen of Flowers") is also based on Shaw'sPygmalion. The play was a huge success inMarathi theater and has earned many accolades.Madhu Rye adaptedPygmalion in Gujarati asSantu Rangili (1976) which was successful.
^The invention of the nameGalatea is modern; Falconet's title wasPygmalion aux pieds de sa statue qui s'anime, "Pygmalion at the feet of his statue, which comes to life".
^The Greek sources of Ovid's tale are fully discussed atGalatea.
^Bibliotheke, iii.14.3 simply mentions "Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus".
^Clement, Exhortation to the Greeks, 4: "So the well-known Pygmalion of Cyprus fell in love with an ivory statue; it was of Aphrodite and was naked. The man of Cyprus is captivated by its shapeliness and embraces the statue. This is related by Philostephanus".
^abJudith H. Montgomery (May 1971). "The American Galatea".College English.32 (8). National Council of Teachers of English:890–899.doi:10.2307/375627.JSTOR375627.
Burnham, Jack.Beyond Modern Sculpture (1982). Allan Lane. A history of 'living statues' and the fascination with automata—see the introductory chapter: "Sculpture and Automata".
Buschor, Ernst.Vom Sinn der griechischen Standbilder (1942). Clear discussion of attitudes to sculptural images in classical times.
Ciofalo, John J. (December 1995). "Unveiling Goya's Rape of Galatea".Art History, pp. 477–98.
Ciofalo, John J. (2001). "The Art of Sex and Violence: The Sex and Violence of Art".The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya. Cambridge University Press.
d'Huy, Julien (2012). "Le motif de Pygmalion: origine afrasienne et diffusion en Afrique".Sahara. 23. pp. 49–58.
d'Huy, Julien (2013). "Il y a plus de 2000 ans, le mythe de Pygmalion existait en Afrique du nord".Préhistoires Méditerranéennes.
Danahay, Martin A. (1994). "Mirrors of Masculine Desire: Narcissus and Pygmalion in Victorian Representation".Victorian Poetry. No. 32. pp. 35–53.
Gross, Kenneth. (1992).The Dream of the Moving Statue. Cornell University Press. (A wide-ranging survey of 'living statues' in literature and the arts).
Hersey, George L. (2009). "Falling in love with statues: artificial humans from Pygmalion to the present", Chicago, 2009,ISBN978-0-226-32779-2
Almost Human: Puppets, Dolls and Robots in Contemporary Art, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey. 2005. (Catalogue for a group exhibition March 20 – June 12, 2005.)
Joshua, Essaka (2001).Pygmalion and Galatea: The History of a Narrative inEnglish Literature. Ashgate.
Law, Helen H. (Feb. 1932). "The Name Galatea in the Pygmalion Myth",The Classical Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5. Published by The Classical Association of the Middle West and South,JSTOR3290617.
Marshall, Gail. (1998).Actresses on the Victorian Stage: Feminine Performance and the Galatea Myth. Cambridge University Press.
Morford, Mark. (2007). "Classical Mythology Eighth Edition". Oxford University Press
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