Figureheads, Ship Badges and Silverware – Nineteenth Century Classical References in the National Maritime Museum
This course was designed to delve into classical myths used in naval related items by examining some of the NMM collection of C19th objects and was run on Sunday 25th February 2018.
Figurehead of HMS Ajax
Following on from the previous course we looked at what Classical artworks were available to artists in the C19th and what literary works were studied in schools and were known to the general population. We identified some of the Classical gods, heroes, figures from myth and historical characters used as figureheads and ship badges such as Achilles, Ajax, Atalanta, Caesar, Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Dido, Hercules, Leda, Minerva, Neptune, Orpheus and Penelope. I outlined the basic myths surrounding them and examined why they might have been chosen.
These are the slides from the course in a printable format
Revision slides as printable handouts
Figureheads, Ship Badges and Silverware slides as printable handouts
Ship Badges and Silverware slides as printable handouts
These are some of the notes I used for the course