@Regran_ed from @printsandprinciples - Detail of the engraving from the workshop of #HendrikGoltzius, #TheDaughtersOfCecropsOpeningTheCasketEntrustedToThemByMinerva”, 1590 (continued) ▪️ For me this has been one of those allegorical scenes that seemed to hint at bigger meanings but fell short; until I discovered a missing clue tonight! Before I reveal this missing element, however, let me start w/what I understand to be portrayed in this scene. ▪️ These 3 young ladies are the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, #Cecrops—famous for instituting the idea of marriage & lots of other things. These sisters were given the responsibility by the goddess Minerva to guard the basket shown here, but not to open it. Of course, the need to know what was inside was too strong & the young lady on the right, #Aglaurus (the perfect name for my next cat!), opened the basket. What peeped out of the basket is the cute serpent-tailed child, #Erichthonios. I will ignore for the moment that the crow in the tree is Minerva’s spy who will report the sisters’ shameful breach of faith in opening the basket. Moreover, I will only briefly add that the sisters are so repelled by the discovery of little Erichthonios that they hurl themselves off the #Acropolis to their deaths. Instead I need to focus on the element in this image that was (until tonight) a mystery for me: the meaning behind Aglaurus’ gesture towards the distance. ▪️ What I discovered this evening is that this composition is incomplete. If one looks at the engraving of virtually the same composition originally designed by Goltzius but copied in reverse by #CrispijnDePasse the Elder (1564–1637) as an illustration to the later edition of #Ovid’s #MetamorphosesBookI (see http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.322205) what Aglaurus is gesturing towards now makes sense: the later composition shows Aglaurus pointing to Vulcan’s attempted rape of #Minerva wherein he inadvertently fertilizes Mother Earth instead of Minerva leading to Mother Earth giving birth to little Erichthonius. In short, gestures made by errant daughters should have meanings & here they do! 10/18/18 #FestivalOfTheGoddessPandrosos https://www.instagram.com/p/BpGCE6snBvB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zgrhr16n95uc