associated with the soul, the image of the destiny of the soul, symbol of resurrection, allegory of the transience and fragility of existence, her beauty and short lifespan made it a symbol of physical beauty that threatens virtue and leads to human downfall …

3. associated with the soul, the image of the destiny of the soul, symbol of resurrection,
allegory of the transience and fragility of existence,
her beauty and short lifespan made it a symbol of physical beauty that threatens virtue and leads to human downfall …

4. Butterflies
in Western painting

5. A Princess of the House of Este,
flowers
and
butterflies ...
The butterfly, a Vanessa Atalanta, near the princess' brow is a symbol of the soul.
(It seems likely that the painting was commissioned from Pisanello
when the model died. Columbine and carnations are symbols of death and pain.
And the Greek uses the same word, Ψυχή (psyche), to refer to butterflies
and the soul).
Pisanello
Portrait d'une princesse de la Maison d'Este
Portrait of a Princess
1436-1438
Musée du Louvre, Paris

8. Here is an image type that was very much in vogue in the XVIth century
in Flanders, at a time when death fascinated people as much as it terrified them.
An angel with the wings of a butterfly holds a mirror in which a skull is reflected
...
(The skull, in the Western world a symbol of Vanity, shows the fragility
of human life.)
Jan Sanders van Hemessen
Vanité
Vanitas
1535-1540
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille

11. Butterfly ... a symbol of the artist’s ephemeral creative vision,
of the volatility of thought,
of the soul released through sleep or death
It was once said that the goddesses of Virtue and Fortune
had a bad quarrel.
In her distress, Virtue sought the aid of Jupiter, chief of all the gods.
But Mercury intervened, and told her to wait:
the gods were busy, he said, making cucumbers blossom
and painting the wings on butterflies ...
Dosso Dossi
Jupiter Painting Butterflies, Jupiter, Mercury and Virtue
Jupiter peignant des papillons, Jupiter, Mercure et la Vertu
1524
Wawel Royal Castle, Cracow

16. A strange painting in which to find butterflies ...
The Gods have won ... and the Titans, fell from the heavens
and were imprisoned in Tartarus, or Hell
The flying insects, even butterflies, were associated with the fire of the underworld
although
… the two butterflies and one dragonfly appear quite incongruous,
at least to the modern eye.
Cornelis van Haarlem
The Fall of the Titans
La Chute des Titans
1588-1590
Statens Museum for Kunst (Den Kongelige Malerisamling), Copenhagen

20. The Golden butterflies, floating above the heads of angels …
Traditionally, butterflies stand for the soul or resurrection.
In antiquity, the souls of the deceased were imagined as butterflies;
this idea was adopted as well in Christianity, and the Resurrection of Christ
is compared to the metamorphoses of a chrysalis into a butterfly.
(The cherry that is offered to the infant Jesus is a reference to the Garden
of Eden.)
Jean Malouel
Virgin and Child with Butterflies
Vierge à l'enfant aux papillons
1410
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

22. Good and evil fighting for the human soul ...
…
The demon with butterfly wings ...
The demon dressed in the wings of a Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae,
has the same black and red chromatism,
in full sunlight, near the iridescence of the rainbow and the peacock
feathers of the Archangel:
diabolical, the butterfly remains so, even far from the infernal flames.
The wing color, red and black, of the Small tortoiseshell
and the Vanessa atalanta was associated with the devil, and to feed
on rotting meat and excrement, a symbol of death and corruption.
Hans Memling
The Last Judgment (central panel)
Le Jugement dernier (panneau central)
1466-1473
Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, Gdańsk

26. Bruegel invents creatures that are the most repulsive, but also the most
curious and fantastic imaginable.
Within the "mêlée"
mussel shells grafted onto a gigantic shrimp,
a puffy gnome carrying a sundial and with a plumed helmet on his head,
a viscous fish with arms, lizard scales, crustacean paws,
a human head with butterfly wings attached to a shapeless, bloated body ...
Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel l'Ancien
The Fall of the Rebel Angels
La Chute des anges rebelles
1562
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

30. Mars, the God of War, conquered and exhausted Mars,
Venus, the Goddess of Love, victorious (this would then be
an allegory of Love triumphing over War),
Cupid, chubby little child nestled in his mother’s arm,
a group of putti play with Mars' weapons and armor,
two doves that symbolize tender love
and
a long-eared rabbit,
a fly dozes on Mars’s pillow,
a large butterfly, wings outspread, dawdles on Venus’s knee
…
What is the giant bunny doing here? ... a symbol of sexual excess?
... and the fly ... and the butterfly?
Piero di Cosimo
Venus, Mars and Cupid
Vénus, Mars et Cupidon
1490
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

35. Psyche receives Cupid's first kiss with astonishment,
the thought, the feeling awaken in their hitherto dormant being
and
… the butterfly of the soul flutters and flaps its wings
Psyche is the Greek goddess of the soul and often represented with butterfly.
François Gérard
Psyché et l'Amour, dit aussi Psyché recevant le premier baiser de l'Amour
Psyche and Amor, also known as Psyche Receiving Cupid's First Kiss
1798
Musée du Louvre, Paris

39. The legendary Greek prince Oedipus
the malevolent Sphinx,
a riddle,
remains of victims who answered incorrectly
a bay tree, sacred to Apollo, representing man’s highest achievements,
a fig tree, a traditional symbol of sin,
a cinerary urn, symbolizing death,
a snake, associated with death, and through the biblical serpent, with sin
and
a butterfly, representing the soul …
Gustave Moreau
Oedipe et le sphinx
Oedipus and the Sphinx
1864
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City

43. Every hunter’s dream:
discover the largest and most spectacular butterflies ever seen ...
a great big hat, an umbrella,
a tiny net
and
seemingly packed for a great jungle adventure
(the insignificance of man in the vastness of nature …)
Carl Spitzweg
The butterfly hunter
Le chasseur de papillons
1840
Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden

46. The beauty of flowers and insects ...
large poppy flowers
and
two bright butterflies, contrasted with the background of grass and leaves
Vincent van Gogh
Papillons et coquelicots
Butterflies and Poppies
April 1890-May 1890
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

49. a highly imaginative collection of flowers, plants, rocks,
butterflies ...
Odilon Redon
Papillons
Butterflies
1910
The Museum of Modern Art, New York City

52. Intriguing, eccentric and bold painting...
a desert-like setting, lifeless, where time seems to have stopped
and
two butterflies that appear to be in flight yet there is no sense
of movement about them.
They appear static as if caught and placed for observation at the edge
of the rock.
For the Dali, the butterflies often they represent metamorphosis,
or have a meaning that alludes to carnal desire and seduction
Salvador Dalí
Paysage aux papillons
Landscape with Butterflies
1956
Private collection

55. A magnificent and enigmatic Italian painting …
roses, three quails, a toad, a little owl, a white stilt,
butterfly ...
The atmosphere is twilight, certainly,
… but each creature is full of life.
Can we really talk about a still life?
Paolo Porpora
Nature morte avec des cailles, un hibou et une échasse blanche
Still-Life with Quails, an Owl and a White Stilt
1625 and 1650
Musée du Louvre, Paris

58. butterflies,
flowers,
frogs, snails,
a mouse, a black beetle.
snakes, poisonous mushrooms
...
and barely visible amid this vivid and perilous nature,
a sole bird skeleton is a symbol of vanity and shortness of life
Abraham Mignon
Flowers and tiny creatures, Vanitas
Fleurs et petites créatures, Vanitas
17th century
Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie,
Warsaw

61. The transience of earthly things ...
‘Ecquid Sunt aliud quam breve gaudium?’ What are these other than a brief joy?
the skull and the thighbone beside it signify death,
the fly on the forehead stands for the persistence with which death pursues us,
the books refer to the inadequacy of human knowledge,
flowers are symbolic of the brevity of life
the valuable exotic shell, the pearls and the coins are reminders that earthly riches
are vain in the face of death
…
But there is a ray of light in the darkness:
a French proverb written on the paper protruding from the book, ‘mourir pour vivre’,
die to live, a reference to life after death, the only life that is worthwhile
and
a butterfly,
is a garden tiger moth Arctia caja, lived as a caterpillar, to become a butterfly.
Thus the human spirit, when it leaves this earthly life, will find salvation.
Adriaen van Nieulandt
Vanitas Still Life
Vanité Nature morte
1636
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem

64. Butterflies in Western painting
Papillons dans la peinture occidentale
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys Crescendo
created olga_oes
thanks for watching
o.esqsegues@gmail.com