Stories for the Spooky Season

Some classic tales with an October vibe

All of the Ovid and Boccaccio I’ve been studying for work have led me to some wonderful images that are perfect for this Halloween month.

Ghost stories, costumes, beastly transformations and more—hopefully they will inspire you to get out your Metamorphoses and Decameron and dive into the tales!

This painting and related story in the Decameron (Day IV, Story 1) bring new meaning to the phrase ‘eat your heart out’. (Bernardino Mei, Ghismunda, 1650-59)

One of Boccaccio’s most horrifying tales (Day V, Story 8) features a ghostly vision that somehow made its way onto a series of four panels painted for a Florentine Renaissance wedding. (Sandro Botticelli & Bartolomeo di Giovanni, Nastagio degli Onesti, 1483)

October is also eclipse season, helloooo transformations—so here is Juno accompanying the goddess of the Moon through the heavens as wily Mercury looks on from above. (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Juno & Luna, 1735-45)

Diana splashes Acteon with her magic water and turns him into a stag—here he’s already sprouting the antlers…and it only gets worse from there. All the terrifying details in the Metamorphoses Book 3. (Cesari Bernardino, Diana and Acteon, c. 1601-13)

Friar Alberto tricks a Venetian noblewoman into sleeping with him by dressing up as the Archangel Gabriel (wings and all) before being discovered and led into Piazza San Marco on all fours covered in glue and feathers and wearing a carnival mask. (Maestro di Guillebert de Mets, Decameron Day IV, Story 2, 15th c.)

You will be shocked when you read the story of Lisabetta and Lorenzo on Day IV of the Decameron and discover what is making that basil grow so profusely. Hint: Note the skull decoration on the vase. (William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867)

The fabulous witch goddess Circe turning Ulysses’ men into wild animals is peak Halloween. Having the trickster Mercury in the background of this painting makes it even more appropriate for this month. Find the story in Book 14 of the Metamorphoses. (Pellegrino Tibaldi, Ulysses & Circe, c. 1550)

A reminder that I will be talking all things Magical Renaissance this Sunday, October 20th at 8pm CEST over at Elaine Ruffolo’s Art History Encounters. More information and registration here—hope to see you over on Zoom!