Art after Ovid
David McAllister | Prospect | 10th February 2026
Written 2000 years ago Ovid’s Metamorphoses is an epic tale of change and transformation. A Rijksmuseum show makes the case that it has become “intrinsic to the western canon”. In the tale of Apollo and Daphne, Bernini sculpted Daphne transforming into a tree. Lustful Jupiter was painted by Michelangelo as a swan. Rodin sculpted Pygmalion falling in love with his own sculpture. All illustrate that we do not control change and “nothing is permanently central”.