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Title
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Sueño de Alcione
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Description
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This engraving illustrates Morpheus, the son of the god of sleep, appearing to Alcyone in a dream in the form of King Ceyx. Unbeknownst to Alcyone, her husband King Ceyx of Thessaly had died in a shipwreck. She constantly prayed to the goddess Juno for her husband’s safe return, however, Juno wanted to reveal to Alcyone that he was in fact dead. Juno sent her messenger, Iris, to the god of Sleep and told him to appear to Alcyone in a dream to reveal her husband’s death. The god of sleep sent his son Morpheus to handle the task, as he can shape shift into any human being. As depicted in the engraving, Morpheus took the form of a dead King Ceyx, and appeared to Alcyone to reveal his death. Alcyone is illustrated pointing at him as she is surprised by his appearance and grieved to know that he is dead. The background of the engraving illustrates Alcyone after she has woken from her dream. She walked along the shores and came across the washed-up body of King Ceyx on the shores of the beach. She is depicted with her arms in the air, about to throw herself onto the body of her husband.
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Image Creator
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Virgil Solis (Engraver)
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Identifier
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mta:11848
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Source Name
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Las Transformaciones de Ovidio en lengua Española, repartidas en quinze libros, con las Allegorias al fin dellos, y sus figuras, para prouecho de los Artifices [The Transformations of Ovid in the Spanish language, distributed in fifteen books, with the allegories at the end of them and their figures, for the benefit of the creators]
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Image
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mta_11848_OBJ.jpg
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Subject
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Goddesses
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Roman Mythology
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Greek Mythology
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Shipwreck
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Gods
mta_11848_OBJ.jpg