Teacher’s Guide to Stories of the Paneled Door
Creating Narrative Artwork
The West Door of the English Paneled Room in the Speed Art Museum is an extraordinary example of both functional and narrative art. It is a 400-year-old wooden door that is finely decorated with carvings (functional art), and it portrays six dramatic and fantastical stories by the Roman poet Ovid (narrative art). One of the stories carved into these panels is about Orpheus, the son of Apollo. Apollo, the god of music, gave Orpheus a stringed instrument called a lyre. Orpheus played this lyre so beautifully that he tamed all of nature, even the wildest of beasts, with his music.
Midas, Pan, and Apollo
One strange creature is Pan, a god of the fields who had the head and torso of a man and the legs of a goat. Pan challenged Apollo, the god of music, to a contest to see who could play the most beautiful music. All who heard judged the music Apollo played on his lyre to be the best. Only foolish King Midas preferred the piping of Pan. To punish King Midas’ bad ear for music, Apollo caused Midas to grow the big, hairy ears of a donkey.
- Can you spot Apollo playing his lyre?
- What kind of ears would you have put on Midas?
Diana and Acteon
Diana was goddess of the hunt, and Acteon was a very skillful hunter. Diana was furious when Acteon accidentally saw her bathing in the forest, and she punished him by magically changing him into a deer. It was at that moment that Acteon found out what it was like to no longer be the hunter but the hunted!
- How does the artist show us that Acteon is becoming a deer?
- Can you think of other ways to make a picture of a man turning into a deer?
Hercules and Cerebus
Hercules, who was famous for his superhuman strength and courage, was ordered to perform 12 tasks that would be impossible for most people. One of the most frightful was to capture Cerebus, the dog who guarded the underworld. Cerebus had three heads, each one snarling to reveal fangs that dripped with poison. If someone looked directly at Cerebus, he would be immediately turned to stone. Hercules, however, was able to capture Cerebus singlehandedly!
- What would Cerebus look like if you were the artist who had carved this panel?
- How would you have captured Cerebus singlehandedly?
Medea and King Pelias
The evil witch Medea hatched a plot to trick the daughters of Old King Pelias. She promised her magic could change him back into a young man. All they had to do, she whispered, was follow her direction. She showed them how it would work, taking an old ram and throwing it into a cauldron of magic herbs. Out jumped a young lamb. When the time came for King Pelias, however, there were only water and herbs boiling in the pot, and Medea had escaped in her chariot drawn by winged dragons.
- Can you find Medea’s magic cauldron?
- How can we tell who King Pelias is?
Pyramus and Thisbe
Ovid told a tale in his Metamorphoses about two young lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, who lived next door to each other in the ancient city of Babylonia. Their parents did not get along, so the only way Pyramus and Thisbe could talk to each other was through a crack in the wall that the two houses shared. They made plans to run away together and to meet beneath the white berries of the mulberry tree. Although their plans to run away together fell through, the berries of the mulberry tree turned red in memory of their love.
- If this were a painting instead of a woodcarving, what colors do you think the artist might have used?
- Can you find the mulberry tree within the picture?
Orpheus and His Lyre
The music Orpheus played on his lyre was so beautiful that everyone who heard it was charmed by it. Even the wild beasts lay down peacefully together. A lyre is a musical instrument played by the ancient Greeks. It is a stringed instrument, something like a small harp.
- Can you find the lyre of Orpheus and draw its shape?
- Can you find another lyre somewhere else in this door?
- How has the music transformed the behavior of the animals?