Editing Polyphemus (section)

====Painting and sculpture====
Paintings that include Polyphemus in the story of Acis and Galatea can be grouped according to their themes. Most notably the story takes place within a pastoral landscape in which the figures are almost incidental. This is particularly so in [[Nicolas Poussin]]'s 1649 "Landscape with Polyphemus" (see gallery [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]) in which the lovers play a minor part in the foreground.{{sfn|Langdon|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=P2w85qEMU34C&pg=PA169 169]}} To the right, Polyphemus merges with a distant mountain top on which he plays his pipes. In an earlier painting by Poussin from 1630 (now housed at the [[Dublin National Gallery]]) the couple are among several embracing figures in the foreground, shielded from view of Polyphemus, who is playing his flute higher up the slope. Another variation on the theme was painted by [[Pietro Dandini]] during this period.

[[File:Moreau Galatée.jpg|thumb|225px|Polyphemus spies on the sleeping Galatea, [[Gustave Moreau]] (1880)]]
An earlier fresco by [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] from 1528 seats Polyphemus against a rocky foreground with a lyre in his raised right hand. The lovers can just be viewed through a gap in the rock that gives onto the sea at the lower right. [[Corneille Van Clève]] (1681) represents a seated Polyphemus in his sculpture, except that in his version it is pipes that the giant holds in his lowered hand. Otherwise he has a massive club held across his body and turns to the left to look over his shoulder.

Other paintings take up the Theocritan theme of the pair divided by the elements with which they are identified, land and water. There are a series of paintings, often titled "The Triumph of Galatea", in which the nymph is carried through the sea by her Nereid sisters, while a minor figure of Polyphemus serenades her from the land. Typical examples of this were painted by [[François Perrier (painter)|François Perrier]], [[Giovanni Lanfranco]] and [[Jean-Baptiste van Loo]].

A whole series of paintings by [[Gustave Moreau]] make the same point in a variety of subtle ways.{{sfn|Roman|Roman|2010|p=175}} The giant spies on Galatea through the wall of a sea grotto or emerges from a cliff to adore her sleeping figure (see [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]). Again, Polyphemus merges with the cliff where he meditates in the same way that Galatea merges with her element within the grotto in the painting at Musée d'Orsay. The visionary interpretation of the story also finds its echo in [[Odilon Redon]]'s 1913 painting ''[[The Cyclops (Redon)|The Cyclops]]'' in which the giant towers over the slope on which Galatea sleeps.{{sfn|Kleiner|2008|p=672}}

French sculptors have also been responsible for some memorable versions. [[Auguste Ottin]]'s separate figures are brought together in an 1866 fountain in the [[Luxembourg Garden]]. Above is crouched the figure of Polyphemus in weathered bronze, peering down at the white marble group of Acis and Galatea embracing below (see above). A little later [[Auguste Rodin]] made a series of statues, centred on Polyphemus. Originally modelled in clay around 1888 and later cast in bronze, they may have been inspired by Ottin's work.{{sfn|Elsen|Haas|Frankel Jamison|2003|pp=275–76}}

A final theme is the rage that succeeds the moment of discovery. That is portrayed in earlier paintings of Polyphemus casting a rock at the fleeing lovers, such as those by [[Annibale Carracci]], Lucas Auger and [[Carle van Loo]]. [[Jean-François de Troy]]'s 18th-century version combines discovery with aftermath as the giant perched above the lovers turns to wrench up a rock.