Super Humans in Art throughout History

Persephone And Hades: tondo of an attic red- figured kylix ca.440-430 BC

This Image contains two figures both are sitting on a large chair and they presented as two colours dark orange and black. The figure on the left is a Female figure and is therefore Persephone she is presented wearing a long flowing dress. Her legs are presented dangling off of the chair. The figure on the right is male and is therefore Hades. He is presented with black straggly hair and a black beard. He is wearing a head dress that when you look closely appears to be made from leaves of some sort. He is body is laying on the large seat with his torso sitting upright , he is wearing a robe. Propped up behind him is a pillow. In his left hand he is holding a plate of some sort and in between his right arm he is holding a horn. These two figures are inside a circle that has a unique black and orange pattern. The image also has cracks on it meaning the tondo may have been damaged at some point.

16th Century depiction of Norse gods- Olaus MagnusOlaus Magnus (October 1490-August 1,1557): was a Swedish writer and Catholic Ecclesiastic. He is best remembered as the author of Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (History of the Northern People). The text of dark forests, violent currents and beasts from the sea amazed the rest of Europe.

The image to the right contains three figures who are all Norse Gods. The figure on the left is Frigg she is the Norse Goddess of Foreknowledge and Wisdom she is also known as Odin’s wife. In the image she is presented wearing a head dress and long dress. In her left hand she is holding a sword, in her right hand she is holding a bow. The figure in the middle is Odin is known as the Norse god of Knowledge,healing,death,royalty,battle,sorcery,poetry,frenzy and the runic alphabet. In the image he is presented wearing a crown and a long robe he is also sat on a throne with his feet crossed. In his left hand he is holding a sceptre. Above his head multiple stars are floating as if they have come from the sceptre. His right hand is not holding anything. The figure on the right is Thor the Norse God of Thunder he is presented wearing 16th century armour, such as a chest plate and helmet. He is also presented sporting a short beard. His left hand is not holding anything but is splayed outwards towards Odin in his right hand he is wielding a long sword. The image has no colour as it is all black and white. Outside of the main image are two decorative floral designs.

This image contains one figure who Loki who is known as the Norse god of Mischief and Trickery. He is presented here as a sort of jester he has a long protruding nose, sinister smile and large eyes, he is also sporting a goatee beard. He is wearing a pointy red hat and whit and yellow striped cowl. He is also wearing an orange ,red and white shirt with yellow long sleeves. On his legs he is wearing yellow leggings and red boots. In his right hand he is holding a fishing net but his left hand is empty with his index and middle finger open outward. The figure is presented into a dancing stance. To the left of the figure there appears to be Icelandic scripture.

Loki with a Fishing Net as depicted on an 18th Century Icelandic Manuscript

Thor’s Battle against the Jotnar, Marten Eskil Winge (c.1872)

Marten Eskil Winge (21st September 1825-22 April 1896): was a Swedish artist who was especially

known for his Norse mythology paintings. He was a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. He was influenced by Nils Blommer and Carl Wahlbohm and is associated with the Düsseldorf School of Painting. Winge created several Norse Mythology paintings that attracted much interest and approval in the 1860s and in the 1870s he began working on commissions for several altar pieces for churches. He also painted decorations for the Bolinderska palace in Stockholm and for Kulla Gunnarstop Castle in Scania.

This image contains 8 figures. The main figure in the middle of the piece is Thor the Norse God of Thunder, he is presented in this image with long blonde flowing hair with a small silver crown on his head.. he is wearing a white fur cape and a red sleeveless robe. Around his waist he is wearing a gold belt. His left is raised up in the air and is holding his famous magical hammer Mjolnir. The hammer has lightning cast down upon it. His right hand is holding on to one of the Jotnar's hair. Thor appears to be placed inside a wooden chariot that is being pulled by two black goats. The figures that Thor appears to be fighting are known as the Jotnar which is Norse for Giants. They are presented as not wearing many items of clothing. With long straggly hair and beards. They also appears to be bested by Thor as they are either holding on to the chariot or are under it.

Odin the wanderer, Georg Von Rosen (c.1896)

Georg Von Rosen (February 13th 1843-March 3rd 1923): Was a Swedish painter known for his treatment of subjects from Swedish and Norse Mythology. He taught at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts between 1880 and 1908.

This image contains only one figure in black and white who from the name of the painting is clearly Odin. He is presented here as very old and presumably very wise as it is characterised with his long white beard. He is also known as the Norse God of Knowledge as many other things such as death and battle. This piece is a portrait that is mainly focused on the face of the main figure, his right eye is an interesting feature as it is closed whilst his left is wise open. This is probably because in Norse Mythology he is characterised as being old one eyed wearing a blue cloak and holding a spear. In this image he is also presented wearing a cloak and in his left hand is holding a spear.

Journey Into Mystery #83 début of Thor cover art, Jack Kirby (c. Aug 1963)

Jack Kirby (August 28,1917-February 6,1994): Was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. He is considered as one of the most influential creators in the medium. He worked for a number of publishers most famously Marvel and DC. With Marvel he created along with Stan Lee some of the companies major characters such as the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The X men and the Avengers. With DC he created the villain Darkseid along with the whole Fourth World saga. He was also notable for creating the Demon, Klarion the Witchboy, OMAC and Kamandi.

This piece is filled with multiple features and figures the main being Thor. In this image he is presented as wearing a winged helmet and long flowing blonde hair. He has a determined expression on his face. He is also wearing a black vest with six grey circles on it. Around his waist he is wearing a yellow (gold) belt with a T for a buckle. On his legs he is wearing blue leggings with black and yellow striped boots. Around his shoulders he is wearing a red cape. His torso is twisted as if he is in motion. His legs are spread apart as well. Both of his hands are holding on to his signature hammer Mjolnir. Surrounding Thor is a red circular object with black rectangles in it this represents Thor's hammer swinging in a circular motion. Behind Thor there are 8 figures seven of them appear to be green rock monsters holding large guns six of them are falling from a grey space craft and 1 one of them looks as if he is falling over. The 8th figure appears to be a Civilian who is wearing a black suit and appears to be horrified. The scene is set in a city as the landscape features skyscrapers and large buildings. The image also features a lot of text to help sell the comic. The largest of which appears above all the figures and reads “Journey Into Mystery” in large red scratchy writing. Below that is a black word bubble that says “Introducing The Mighty Thor!” with the name Thor being in bold yellow text instead of white. Besides that is another black text box that reads “The Most Exciting Superhero Of All Time!!”. Underneath Thor is a long read text box that says “ Begin the Saga of THOR in this issue!” with Thor once again being in yellow bold writing.

Wonder Woman: The Ares Onslaught!-George Perez (c.1987)George Perez (born June 9,1954): is an American illustrator of comic books. He is most notable for writing books for both Marvel and DC such as The Avengers, Teen Titans and Wonder Woman and

Crisis on Infinite Earths.

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This image contains two figures the most prominent being Ares the Greek God of War. He is presented wearing armour over every part of his body with a metal skirt. His Helmet is blue and features four horns. The helmet also features a T shaped opening where only two white angry eyes are scene. His Helmet also features a decorative design around it. He is also wearing blue armour over his torso that features very prominent stomach and chest muscles. Slightly below that there is some slight chain mail shown. Around his shoulders he is wearing a long blue cape. His arms are thrown towards the viewer with his hands open outright. His arms are covered in dark blue armour and both hands are wearing blue gauntlets. Around his waist he is wearing a blue decorative armoured skirt and on his legs he is wearing dark blue tights. His legs are spread outwards. At the bottom of the image is a female figure that is clearly Wonder woman, she is wearing her iconic red yellow and blue star spangled suit and is wielding her also iconic lasso of truth that she is about to throw towards Ares. To the right of her there is large blue and bold text that says “The Ares Onslaught” and to the left of her is an advertisement for the comic watchmen that says “WHO watches the WATCHMEN”. The backdrop to the image is a large red mushroom cloud that is red from the bottom and gets darker the further up the cover. Above Ares features the logo for the comic that reads “Wonder Woman” in red writing with her logo in red underneath.

Thor Age of Thunder Cover, Marko Djurdjevic (c. June,2008)

Marko Djurdjevic(born January 23,1979): Is a German Illustrator of Serbian Descent, he is best known for his character designs. He is most notable for working with Marvel creating a large body of work that mostly contains cover art and character designs as well as some interior artwork.

This image contains two prominent figures. The most important of which being Thor unlike his début appearance his costume is a lot darker and realistic with the only bright colour coming from his red cape. He is still presented with long flowing bleach blonde hair and a metal feathered helmet. His vest is much darker and is more of a greyish blue colour. His leggings instead of blue are now brown and his boots are now black covered in brown bandages. His left arm is resting on his hip and his right hand is down by his side holding his magical hammer Mjolnir. Below Thor is a defeated ice giant with which Thor's left foot is resting on his cheek and his right foot on his chin as if to show he has conquered the creature. The ice giant's head is facing towards the viewer, his mouth is open showing his jagged teeth. His nose has a ring through it and his cheek and chin have a circular pattern tattoo on them. His eyes are rolled backwards as if to indicate that he is dead. It is also evident that he is dead as he has arrows sticking out of his forehead. There is also dried blood on the ground that has clearly come from his mouth. The background is mostly white indicating that it is winter in this scene.