The texts from which we know Greek and Roman mythology were only a tiny part of a much larger literary output and works by artists, most of which has been lost forever. These sources proved a rich and complex view of the myths, which change depending on the artist and the century they were used. The renewed interest in the classical past from the fifteenth century onward (though the interest remained even prominently present in the so-called medieval period) had important consequences for art, which brought mythological subjects back into circulation. Every artist expressed his own ideas and points of view. The exhibition in the Landesmuseum in Hannover shows the works of German and Dutch artists from this perspective. Works by Albrecht Altdorfer, Hendrick Goltzius, Frans Floris or Aegidius Sadeler are exhibited. Who are Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno) oder Poseidon (Neptun), Athene (Minerva), Aphrodite (Venus) or Hermes (Merkur) ? How can they be indentified, what are the attributes ? Which role do they play ? German and Dutch prints from the seventeenth and fifteenth centuries tell the stories of the ancient gods and give them a face.
