Helen's Hatching

One of three pieces I did as the final project for one of the classes I had last semester. We were studying classic Greek plays while looking at vase paintings of those stories, and so I decided to interpret the plays in my own visual style.

While not from any particular play, this illustration represents the circumstances surrounding the birth of Helen of Troy: her mother, Leda, was seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. She later laid two eggs - from one hatched Helen and her sister Clytemnestra, from the other hatched their brothers, Pollux and Castor. Helen grew to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and was usually referred to as "Fair-Haired Helen," as blonde hair and fair skin was highly desirable to the Greeks.