Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Pygmalion (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Πυγμαλίων ''Pugmalíōn'', ''gen''.: Πυγμαλίωνος) was a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

ary figure of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He is most familiar from

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's narrative poem ''Metamorphoses'', in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.

In Ovid

In book 10 of

's ''Metamorphoses'', Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory alabaster. Post-classical sources name her Galatea. According to Ovid, when Pygmalion saw the Propoetides of Cyprus practicing prostitution, he began "detesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women". He determined to remain

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...

and to occupy himself with sculpting. He made a sculpture of a woman that he found so perfect he fell in love with it. Pygmalion kisses and fondles the sculpture, brings it various gifts, and creates a sumptuous bed for it. In time,

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

's festival day came and Pygmalion made offerings at the altar of Aphrodite. There, too afraid to admit his desire, he quietly wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl". When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue, and found that its lips felt warm. He kissed it again, and found that the ivory had lost its hardness. Aphrodite had granted Pygmalion's wish. Pygmalion married the ivory sculpture, which changed to a woman under Aphrodite's blessing. In Ovid's narrative, they had a daughter, Paphos, from whom is derived the name of the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. In some versions, Paphos was a son, and they also had a daughter, Metharme. Ovid's mention of Paphos suggests that he was drawing on a more circumstantial account than the source for a passing mention of Pygmalion in Pseudo-Apollodorus' '' Bibliotheke'', a Hellenic mythography of the 2nd-century AD. Perhaps he drew on the lost narrative by Philostephanus that was paraphrased by

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

. In the story of Dido, Pygmalion is an evil king.

Parallels in Greek myth

The story of the breath of life in a statue has parallels in the examples of

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

, who used quicksilver to install a voice in his statues or to make them move; of

Hephaestus Hephaestus ( , ; wikt:Hephaestus#Alternative forms, eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2. ...

, who created

automata An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers i ...

for his workshop; of

Talos In Greek mythology, Talos, also spelled Talus (; , ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; , ''Tálōn''), was a man of bronze who protected Crete from pirates and invaders. Despite the popular idea that he was a giant, no ancient source states this explicitl ...

, an artificial man of bronze, and (according to

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

) of

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

, who was made from clay at the behest of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. The moral anecdote of the " Apega of Nabis", recounted by the historian

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

, described a supposed mechanical simulacrum of the tyrant's wife, that crushed victims in her embrace. The trope of a sculpture so life-like that it seemed about to move was a commonplace with writers on works of art in antiquity. This trope was inherited by writers on art after the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. An example of this trope appears in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play, ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

'', where the king of Sicily is presented with an extremely lifelike statue of his wife (which is actually his wife, long presumed dead).

Cultural depictions

The basic Pygmalion story has been widely transmitted and represented in the arts through the centuries. At an unknown date, later authors give as the name of the statue that of the sea-

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

Galatea or Galathea.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

calls her Elise, based upon the variants in the story of Dido/ Elissa. A variant of this theme can also be seen in the story of ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'', in which a wooden puppet is transformed into a "real boy", though in this case the puppet possesses sapience prior to its transformation; it is the puppet and not its creator, the woodcarver Geppetto, who beseeches the divine powers for the miracle. In the final scene of

's ''

'', a statue of Queen Hermione which comes to life is revealed as Hermione herself, so bringing the play to a conclusion of reconciliations. In

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', a modern variant of the myth, the underclass flower-girl Eliza Doolittle is metaphorically "brought to life" by a phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, who teaches her to refine her accent and conversation and otherwise conduct herself with upper-class manners in social situations. This play in turn inspired a 1938 film adaptation, as well as the 1956 musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

'' and its 1964 film adaptation. The 2007 film '' Lars and the Real Girl'' tells the story of a man who purchases a doll and treats her as a real person in order to reconnect with the rest of the world. Although she never comes to life, he believes she is real, and in doing so develops more connections to his community. When he no longer needs her, he lets her go. This is a reversal of the myth of Pygmalion.

Paintings

The story has been the subject of notable paintings by

Agnolo Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

('' Pygmalion and Galatea''),

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

(four major works from 1868–1870, then again in larger versions from 1875–1878 with the title '' Pygmalion and the Image''),

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

, Ernest Normand, Paul Delvaux,

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

Franz von Stuck Franz Ritter von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with ...

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

, Eduardo Chicharro y Agüera and

Thomas Rowlandson Thomas Rowlandson (; 13 July 1757 – 21 April 1827) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual soc ...

, among others. There have also been numerous sculptures of the "awakening".

Literature

Ovid's Pygmalion has inspired many works of literature, some of which are listed below. The popularity of the Pygmalion myth surged in the 19th century.

Poems

=England

= *

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works—the ''Mirour de l'Omme'', ''Vox ...

's "Pygmaleon and his Statue" in Book 4 of the ''

Confessio Amantis ''Confessio Amantis'' ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. Accor ...

'' (1390) * John Marston's "Pigmalion", in "The Argument of the Poem" and "The Authour in prayse of his precedent Poem" (1598) *

John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...

's poem "Pygmalion and the Statue" (1697–1700) * Thomas Lovell Beddoes's "Pygmalion, or the Cyprian Statuary" (1823–25) *William Cox Bennett's poem "Pygmalion" from his work '' Queen Eleanor's Vengeance and Other Poems'' (1856) *

Arthur Henry Hallam Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, '' In Memoriam'', by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the ''jeune homme fa ...

's poem "Lines Spoken in the Character of Pygmalion" from his work ''Remains in verse and prose of Arthur Henry Hallam: With a preface and memoir'' (1863) * Robert Buchanan's poem "Pygmalion the Sculptor" in his work ''Undertones'' (1864) *

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

's poem "Earthly Paradise" in which he includes the section "Pygmalion and the Image" (1868) * William Bell Scott's "Pygmalion" * Thomas Woolner's long poem "Pygmalion" (1881) * Frederick Tennyson's "Pygmalion" from ''Daphne and Other Poems'' (1891) *

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

's "Pygmalion to Galatea" (1926) and "Galatea and Pygmalion"

=Scotland

= *

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

's "The New Pygmalion or the Statue's Choice" (1911) *

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...

's poem "Pygmalion's Bride" (1999)

=Ireland

= * Emily Henrietta Hickey's ''A Sculptor and Other Poems'' (1881) *

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...

's "Pygmalion" (1938) * Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's "Pygmalion's Image" (1991)

=Germany

= *

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's poem "The Ideals" (Die Ideale) (1795-6)

=Romania

= * Nichita Stănescu's poem "Către Galateea" (Dreptul la timp) (1965)

=United States

= * Sara Jane Lippincott (Grace Greenwood)'s "Pygmalion" (1851) * Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' "Galatea" from ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

'' (1884) * Edward Rowland Sill's "The Lost Magic" (1900) * H.D.'s "Pygmalion" (1913–17) * Genevieve Taggard's "Galatea Again" (1929) * Katha Pollitt's "Pygmalion" (1979)

=Nicaragua

= * Claribel Alegría's "Galatea Before the Mirror" (1993)

Short stories

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

's short story " The Birth-Mark" and his similar novella, '' Rappaccini's Daughter''. * H.P. Lovecraft's " Herbert West–Reanimator" * Tommaso Landolfi's "La moglie di Gogol" ('The Wife of Gogol') *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

's "Pygmalion" * E. T. A. Hoffmann's " The Sandman" *

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

's " Las Ruinas Circulares" (Argentina) *

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

's short story "Galatea", in his collection ''

Azazel In the Hebrew Bible, the name Azazel (; ''ʿĂzāʾzēl'') represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the Jewish views on sin, sins of the Jews was sent during Yom Kippur. During the late Second Temple period (after the Development ...

'', is a parody of the story in which a female sculptor sculpts her idea of the ideal man * Madeline Miller's "Galatea: A Short Story" (2013)

Novels and plays

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

's ''Liber Amoris: or, the New Pygmalion'' (1823) * Lloyd C. Douglas's novel "Invitation To Live" (1940) *

Richard Powers Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel ''The Echo Maker'' won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction.Galatea 2.2'' * Amanda Filipacchi's novel ''Vapor'' * Edith Wharton's '' House of Mirth'' *

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

' '' Portrait of a Lady'' (1880–81) * George MacDonald's ''Phantastes'' *

's play '' Pygmalion'' * Edgar Neville's play ''Prohibido en otoño.'' * Tawfiq el-Hakim's play ''Pygmalion'' * William Schwenck Gilbert's play '' Pygmalion and Galatea'' * Willy Russell's play '' Educating Rita'' * Rousseau's play ''Pygmalion, scène lyrique'', the first full

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

* Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's novel '' Tomorrow's Eve'' *

Jacinto Grau Jacinto Grau Delgado (1877 – 14 August 1958) was a Spanish writer. Best known for his plays, and his theoretical approach to theater, he also wrote essays, short stories, and criticism. Life Grau was born in Barcelona. He served as the E ...

's play El Señor de Pigmalión (1921) *

's play ''

'' (1611)

Other

* Pete Wentz's comic series '' Fall Out Toy Works'' *

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, Humanism, humanist philosophy and counterculture, countercultural leanings. Morrison has writt ...

's Professor Pyg, who appears in '' Batman and Robin''

Opera, ballet, and music

*The story of Pygmalion is the subject of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

's 1748 opera, '' Pigmalion''. *It was also the subject of Georg Benda's 1779 monodrama, '' Pygmalion''. * Ramler's poem ''Pygmalion'' was set to music as an aria by J.C.F.Bach in 1772, and as a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

by Friedrich Benda in 1784. *Pygmalion was the subject of

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...

's first opera, '' Il Pigmalione''. * Fromental Halévy wrote an opera ''Pygmalion'' in the 1820s, but it was not performed. * Franz von Suppé composed an operetta '' Die schöne Galathée'', which is based on the characters of Pygmalion and '' Galatea''. *The ballet '' Coppélia'', about an inventor who makes a life-sized dancing doll, has strong echoes of Pygmalion. *The choreographer

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...

and the composer Prince Nikita Trubetskoi created a four-act ballet on the subject called '' Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre''. The ballet was revived in 1895 with the great ballerina

Pierina Legnani Pierina Legnani (30 September 1863 – 15 November 1930) was an Italian ballerina considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. Biography Legnani was born in 1863, in Milan and originally studied with famous ballet dancer Caterina B ...

Stage plays

Though it is not based on the story of Pygmalion, Shakespeare's play ''

Measure for Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604. It was published in the First Folio of 1623. The play centers on the despotic and puritan Angelo (Measure for ...

'' references Pygmalion in a line spoken by Lucio in Act 3, Scene 2: "What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd?" There have also been successful stage-plays based upon the work, such as W. S. Gilbert's '' Pygmalion and Galatea '' (1871). It was revived twice, in 1884 and in 1888. The play was parodied by the musical 1883 burlesque '' Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed'', which was performed at the Gaiety Theatre with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens and W. Webster, and a score composed by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. In January, 1872, ''Ganymede and Galatea'' opened at the Gaiety Theatre. This was a comic version of Franz von Suppé's '' Die schöne Galathee'', coincidentally with

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

's brother, Fred Sullivan, in the cast. In March 1872, William Brough's 1867 play '' Pygmalion; or, The Statue Fair'' was revived, and in May of that year, a visiting French company produced Victor Massé's ''Galathée''.

's '' Pygmalion'' (1912, staged 1913) owes something to both the Greek Pygmalion and the legend of "King Cophetua and the beggar maid"; in which a king lacks interest in women, but one day falls in love with a young beggar-girl, later educating her to be his queen. Shaw's

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. ...

in turn was the basis for the Broadway musical ''

'' (1956), as well as numerous other adaptations. P. L. Deshpande's play ''Ti Fulrani'' ("Queen of Flowers") is also based on Shaw's ''Pygmalion''. The play was a huge success in Marathi theater and has earned many accolades. Madhu Rye adapted ''Pygmalion'' in Gujarati as ''Santu Rangili'' (1976) which was successful.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

English translation of Ovid's poem
by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.

Latin original, lines 243–297
a
The Latin Library.com

Shakespeare reference

The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Pygmalion)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pygmalion (Mythology) Mythological Cypriots Fictional artisans Fictional sculptors Kings in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters Mythological lovers Phoenician characters in Greek mythology