Editing Polyphemus (section)

==Polyphemus and Galatea==
{{Main|Acis and Galatea (mythology)}}
[[File:WLA metmuseum Wall painting Polyphemus and Galaltea 4.jpg|thumb|right|Detail of Galatea and Polyphemus. From [[Boscotrecase]]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. last decade of the 1st century BCE]]

===Ancient sources===
====Philoxenus of Cythera====
Writing more than three centuries after the [[Odyssey]] is thought to have been composed, [[Philoxenus of Cythera]] took up the myth of Polyphemus in his poem ''Cyclops'' or ''Galatea''. The poem was written to be performed as a [[dithyramb]], of which only fragments have survived, and was perhaps the first to provide a female love interest for the Cyclops.{{refn|group=nb|That Polyphemus' love for Galatea is "possibly" a Philoxenus innovation.{{sfn|Creese|2009|loc=563 with n.5}}}} The object of Polyphemus' romantic desire is a sea nymph named [[Galatea (mythology)|Galatea]].{{sfn|Brooks|1896|pp=163-164}} In the poem, Polyphemus is not a cave dwelling, monstrous brute, as in the ''Odyssey'', but instead he is rather like Odysseus himself in his vision of the world: He has weaknesses, he is adept at literary criticism, and he understands people.{{sfn|LeVen|2014|p=237}}

The date of composition for the ''Cyclops'' is not precisely known, but it must be prior to 388 BC, when [[Aristophanes]] parodied it in his comedy ''[[Plutus (play)|Plutus]]'' (''Wealth''); and probably after 406 BC, when [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius I]] became tyrant of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]].{{sfn|Rosen|2007|p=155}}{{sfn|Hordern|1999|p=445}} Philoxenus lived in that city and was the court poet of Dionysius I.{{sfn|Hordern|1999|p=446|ps=, with n. 4 giving numerous ancient sources}} According to ancient commentators, either because of his frankness regarding Dionysius' poetry, or because of a conflict with the tyrant over a female [[aulos]] player named Galatea, Philoxenus was imprisoned in the quarries and had there composed his ''Cyclops'' in the manner of a ''[[Roman à clef]]'', where the poem's characters, Polyphemus, Odysseus and Galatea, were meant to represent Dionysius, Philoxenus, and the aulos-player.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rocha |first1=Roosevelt |title=Review of: Philoxeni Cytherii Testimonia et Fragmenta. Dithyrambographi Graeci, 1 |url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2015/2015-05-32.html |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |access-date=2 March 2020 |date=May 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Hordern|1999|p=445–446}} Philoxenus had his Polyphemus perform on the [[cithara]], a professional [[lyre]] requiring great skill. The Cyclops playing such a sophisticated and fashionable instrument would have been quite a surprising juxtaposition for Philoxenus' audience.

Philoxenus' ''Cyclops'' is also referred to in [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' in a section that discusses representations of people in tragedy and comedy, citing as comedic examples the ''Cyclops'' of both [[Timotheus of Miletus|Timotheus]] and Philoxenus.{{sfn|LeVen|2014|p=235}}{{sfn|Hordern|1999|pp=448–450}}{{sfn|Farmer|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9Aw1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 p. 215]}}

====Aristophanes====

The text of Aristophanes' last extant play ''Plutus'' (''Wealth'') has survived with almost all of its choral odes missing.{{sfn|Jackson|2019|p=124}} What remains shows Aristophanes (as he does to some extent in all his plays) parodying a contemporary literary work — in this case Philoxenus' ''Cyclops''.{{sfn|Jackson|2019|p=124}}{{sfn|Farmer|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9Aw1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA213 p. 213]}}{{sfn|Hordern|1999|p=445}} While making fun of literary aspects of Philoxenus' dithyramb, Aristophanes is at the same time commenting on musical developments occurring in the fourth century BC, developing themes that run through the whole play.{{sfn|Jackson|2019|p=125}} It also contains lines and phrases taken directly from the ''Cyclops''.{{sfn|Jackson|2019|p=126}}

The slave Cario, tells the chorus that his master has brought home with him the god Wealth, and because of this they will all now be rich. The chorus wants to dance for joy,{{sfn|Aristophanes|1896|p=15}} so Cario takes the lead by parodying Philoxenus' ''Cyclops''.{{sfn|Farmer|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9Aw1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA213 pp. 213–216]}}{{sfn|Jackson|2019|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=STG-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 pp. 124–126]}} As a solo performer leading a chorus that sings and dances, Cario recreates the form of a dithyramb. He first casts himself in the role of Polyphemus while assigning to the chorus the roles of sheep and goats, at the same time imitating the sound of a lyre: "And now I wish — threttanello! — to imitate the Cyclops and, swinging my feet to and fro like this, to lead you in the dance. But come on, children, shout and shout again the songs of bleating sheep and smelly goats."{{sfn|Farmer|2017|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9Aw1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 p. 215]}}{{sfn|Aristophanes|1896|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wCcrYU0nExkC&pg=PA72 72]}} The chorus, however, does not want to play sheep and goats, they would rather be Odysseus and his men, and they threaten to blind Cario (as had Odysseus the drunken Cyclops) with a wooden stake.{{sfn|Jackson|2019|p=125}}

====Hellenistic pastoral poets====
The romantic element, originated by Philoxenus, was revived by later Hellenistic poets, including [[Theocritus]], [[Callimachus]], [[Hermesianax (poet)|Hermesianax]],<ref name="Williams">{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Frederick John |title=Hermesianax |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095932797 |website=Oxford Reference |access-date=11 March 2020 |language=en }}</ref> and [[Bion of Smyrna]].{{sfn|LeVen|2014|pp=234–234}}

[[Theocritus]] is credited with creating the genre of [[pastoral poetry]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Theocritus {{!}} Greek poet |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theocritus |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=11 March 2020 |language=en |date=5 February 2020}}</ref> His works are titled ''Idylls'' and of these [[Idyll XI]] tells the story of the Cyclops' love for Galatea.{{sfn|Ovid|2000|pp=36–37}} Though the character of Polyphemus derives from Homer, there are notable differences. Where Homer's Cyclops was beastly and wicked, Theocritus' is absurd, lovesick and comic. Polyphemus loves the sea nymph Galatea, but she rejects him because of his ugliness.{{sfn|Theocritus|1947|p=11.30–33}}{{sfn|Rosen|2007|p=162}} However, in a borrowing from Philoxenus' poem, Polyphemus has discovered that music will heal lovesickness,{{sfn|Faulkner|2011|p=178}} and so he plays the [[panpipes]] and sings of his woes, for "I am skilled in piping as no other Cyclops here".{{sfn|Theocritus|1947|p=38}} His longing is to overcome the antithetic elements that divide them, he of earth and she of water:{{sfn|Theocritus|1947|p=38}}

{{Poem quote|text=Ah me, would that my mother at my birth had given me gills, That so I might have dived down to your side and kissed your hand, If your lips you would not let me...|char=|sign=|title=|source=}}

[[File:Vanloo,_Triumph_of_Galatea.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Jean-Baptiste van Loo]]'s depiction of "The Triumph of Galatea"; Polyphemus plays the pan-pipes on the right]]
The love of the mismatched pair was later taken up by other pastoral poets. The same trope of music being the cure for love was introduced by Callimachus in his Epigram 47: "How excellent was the charm that Polyphemus discovered for the lover. By Earth, the Cyclops was no fool!"<ref name="Epigrams">{{cite web |last1=Callimachus |translator1-last=Mair |translator1-first=A. W. |title=Callimachus: Epigrams |url=http://www.attalus.org/poetry/callimachus2.html |website=Attalus |access-date=11 March 2020 |date=1921}}</ref> A fragment of a lost idyll by Bion also portrays Polyphemus declaring his undying love for Galatea.{{sfn|Theocritus|Bion|Moschus|1889|p=176}} Referring back to this, an elegy on Bion's death that was once attributed to [[Moschus]] takes the theme further in a piece of [[hyperbole]]. Where Polyphemus had failed, the poet declares, Bion's greater artistry had won Galatea's heart, drawing her from the sea to tend his herds.{{sfn|Theocritus|Bion|Moschus|1889|p=317}} This reflected the situation in [[Idyll VI]] of Theocritus. There two herdsmen engage in a musical competition, one of them playing the part of Polyphemus, who asserts that since he has adopted the ruse of ignoring Galatea, she has now become the one who pursues him.{{sfn|Theocritus|2004|loc=[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11533/11533-h/11533-h.htm#IDYLL_VI Idyll VI]}}

====Latin poets====
The successful outcome of Polyphemus' love was also alluded to in the course of a 1st-century BC love elegy on the power of music by the Latin poet [[Propertius]]. Listed among the examples he mentions is that "Even Galatea, it's true, below wild Etna, wheeled her brine-wet horses, Polyphemus, to your songs."{{sfn|Propertius|2008|loc=[https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/PropertiusBkThree.php#anchor_Toc201112456 Book III.2]}} The division of contrary elements between the land-based monster and the sea nymph, lamented in Theocritus' Idyll 11, is brought into harmony by this means.

While [[Ovid]]'s treatment of the story that he introduced into the ''[[Metamorphoses]]''{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:13.705-13.749 13.740–897]}} is reliant on the idylls of Theocritus,{{refn|group=nb|Alan Griffin{{sfn|Griffin|1983}} calls Ovid's treatment "an extended paraphrase of Theocritus' two idylls."{{sfn|Newlands|2015|p=77}}}} it is complicated by the introduction of Acis, who has now become the focus of Galatea's love.
{{poemquote|While I pursued him with a constant love,
the Cyclops followed me as constantly.
And, should you ask me, I could not declare
whether my hatred of him, or my love
of Acis was the stronger. —They were equal.{{ref|Ovid|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=750 13.755–759]}}}}

There is also a reversion to the Homeric vision of the hulking monster, whose attempt to play the tender shepherd singing love songs is made a source of humour by Galatea:
{{poemquote|Now, Polyphemus, wretched Cyclops, you
are careful of appearance, and you try
the art of pleasing. You have even combed
your stiffened hair with rakes: it pleases you
to trim your shaggy beard with a reaping hook.{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=750 13.764–766]}}}}
In his own character, too, Polyphemus mentions the transgression of heavenly laws that once characterised his actions and is now overcome by Galatea: "I, who scorn Jove and his heaven and his piercing lightning bolt, submit to you alone."{{sfn|Ovid|2000b|loc=[http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph13.htm#486898055 lines 860ff]}}

Galatea listens to the love song of Polyphemus while she and Acis lie hidden by a rock.{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:13.750-13.897 13.778–788]}} In his song, Polyphemus scolds her for not loving him in return, offers her rustic gifts and points out what he considers his best feature — the single eye that is, he boasts, the size of a great shield.{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=750 13.789–869]}} But when Polyphemus discovers the hiding place of the lovers, he becomes enraged with jealousy. Galatea, terrified, dives into the ocean, while the Cyclops wrenches off a piece of the mountain and crushes Acis with it.{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=750 13.870–884]}} But on her return, Galatea changes her dead lover into the spirit of the Sicilian river Acis.{{sfn|Ovid|1922|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=750 13.885–897]}}

[[File:Affreschi romani - polifemo galatea - pompei.JPG|thumb|upright=1.02|Polyphemus receives a love-letter from Galatea, a 1st-century AD fresco from Pompeii]]

====First-century AD art====
That the story sometimes had a more successful outcome for Polyphemus is also attested in the arts. In one of the murals rescued from the site of [[Pompeii]], Polyphemus is pictured seated on a rock with a [[cithara]] (rather than a syrinx) by his side, holding out a hand to receive a love letter from Galatea, which is carried by a winged [[Cupid]] riding on a dolphin.

In another fresco, also dating from the 1st century AD, the two stand locked in a naked embrace (see [[#Artistic depictions of Polyphemus|below]]). From their union came the ancestors of various wild and war-like races. According to some accounts, the [[Celts]] (Galati in Latin, Γάλλοi in Greek) were descended from their son Galatos,{{sfn|Rankin|2012|p=22}} while [[Appian]] credited them with three children, [[Celtus]], [[Illyrius]] and [[Galas]], from whom descend the [[Celts]], the [[Illyrians]] and the [[Gauls]] respectively.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Appian |translator1-first=Horace |translator1-last=White |title=The Illyrian Wars 1 |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/appian/appian-the-illyrian-wars/appian-the-illyrian-wars-1 |website=Livius |access-date=11 March 2020 |date=4 May 2019}}</ref>

====Lucian====
[[File:Cyclops Polyphemus & Galatea Family Tree (Greek Mythology) (English).jpg|thumb|left|250px|Offspring of Polyphemus and Galatea]]

There are indications that Polyphemus' courtship also had a more successful outcome in one of the dialogues of [[Lucian]] of Samosata. There Doris, one of Galatea's sisters, spitefully congratulates her on her love conquest and she defends Polyphemus. From the conversation, one understands that Doris is chiefly jealous that her sister has a lover. Galatea admits that she does not love Polyphemus but is pleased to have been chosen by him in preference to all her companions.{{sfn|Lucian of Samosata|1820|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FzVAAAAAYAAJ&q=Galatea pp. 338–40]}}

====Nonnus====
That their conjunction was fruitful is also implied in a later Greek epic from the turn of the 5th century AD. In the course of his ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [[Nonnus]] gives an account of the wedding of [[Poseidon]] and Beroe, at which the [[Nereid]] "Galatea twangled a marriage dance and restlessly twirled in capering step, and she sang the marriage verses, for she had learnt well how to sing, being taught by Polyphemos with a shepherd's [[syrinx (instrument)|syrinx]]."{{sfn|Nonnus of Panopolis|1940|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/292/mode/2up 43.390–393]}}

===Later European interpretations===
====Literature and music====
During [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] times Ovid's story emerged again as a popular theme. In Spain [[Luis de Góngora y Argote]] wrote the much admired narrative poem, ''Fábula de [[Polifemo]] y Galatea'', published in 1627. It is particularly noted for its depiction of landscape and for the sensual description of the love of Acis and Galatea.{{sfn|de Góngora|2008|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=M73JAsBiFxoC&pg=PA173 pp. 173]}} It was written in homage to an earlier and rather shorter narrative with the same title by Luis Carillo y Sotomayor (1611).{{refn|group=nb|Spanish text [http://www.biblioteca-antologica.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/CARRILLO-DE-SOTOMAYOR-F%C3%A1bula-de-Acis-y-Galatea-YA.pdf online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512224721/http://www.biblioteca-antologica.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/CARRILLO-DE-SOTOMAYOR-F%C3%A1bula-de-Acis-y-Galatea-YA.pdf |date=12 May 2013 }}}} The story was also given operatic treatment in the very popular [[zarzuela]] of [[Antoni Lliteres Carrió]] (1708). The atmosphere here is lighter and enlivened by the inclusion of the clowns Momo and Tisbe.

In France the story was condensed to the fourteen lines of [[Tristan L'Hermite]]'s sonnet "Polyphème en furie" (1641). In it the giant expresses his fury upon viewing the loving couple, ultimately throwing the huge rock that kills Acis and even injures Galatea.<ref>{{cite web |title=François Tristan L'Hermite – Poète – 'Polyphème en furie' |url=http://le-blog-de-mcbalson-palys.over-blog.com/article-fran-ois-tristan-l-hermite-poete-polypheme-en-furie-117988490.html |website=Balades comtoises |language=fr |date=24 May 2013}}</ref> Later in the century, [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] composed his opera ''[[Acis et Galatée]]'' (1686) on the theme.{{refn|group=nb|[http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/DG%2BArchiv/E4534972 Excerpts from Jean-Baptiste Lully's 1686 opera, ''Acis et Galatée'' at PrestoClassical]}}

[[File:Fontaine Médicis Luxembourg.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Polyphemus discovers Galatea and Acis, statues by Auguste Ottin in the [[Jardin du Luxembourg]]'s Médici Fountain, 1866]]
In Italy [[Giovanni Bononcini]] composed the one-act opera ''Polifemo'' (1703). Shortly afterwards [[George Frideric Handel]] worked in that country and composed the cantata ''[[Aci, Galatea e Polifemo]]'' (1708), laying as much emphasis on the part of Polifemo as on the lovers. Written in Italian, Polifemo's deep bass solo "Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori" (From horrid shades) establishes his character from the start. After Handel's move to England, he gave the story a new treatment in his [[pastoral]] opera ''[[Acis and Galatea (Handel)|Acis and Galatea]]'' with an English libretto provided by [[John Gay]].{{refn|group=nb|The text is on the Stanford University site.<ref name="Gay">{{cite book |last1=Gay |first1=John |last2=Pope |first2=Alexander |last3=Hughes |first3=John |title=Georg Friedrich Händel's Acis and Galatea |date=c. 1718 |url=http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/acis.htm |access-date=5 April 2020}}</ref>}} Initially composed in 1718, the work went through many revisions and was later to be given updated orchestrations by both [[Mozart]] and [[Mendelssohn]].{{sfn|Montemorra Martin|2006|p=249}} As a pastoral work it is suffused with Theocritan atmosphere but largely centres on the two lovers. When Polyphemus declares his love in the lyric "O ruddier than the cherry", the effect is almost comic.{{sfn|Dugaw|2001|p=154}}{{refn|group=nb|There is a performance of {{YouTube|9wo-EqJC3i0|Acis and Galatea- Polyphemus: 'O ruddier than the cherry' by G. F. Handel}}.}} Handel's rival for a while on the London scene, [[Nicola Porpora]], also made the story the subject of his opera ''[[Polifemo (opera)|Polifemo]]'' (1735).

Later in the century [[Joseph Haydn]] composed ''Acide e Galatea'' (1763) as his first opera while in Vienna.{{refn|group=nb|Brief excerpts at [http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/126417.html Classical Archives]}} Designed for an imperial wedding, it was given a happy ending centred on the transformation scene after the murder of Acis as the pair declare their undying love.{{sfn|Green|1997|pp=167–68}} [[Johann Gottlieb Naumann]] was to turn the story into a comic opera, ''Aci e Galatea'', with the subtitle ''i ciclopi amanti'' (the amorous cyclops). The work was first performed in Dresden in 1801 and its plot was made more complicated by giving Polifemo a companion, Orgonte. There were also two other lovers, Dorinda and Lisia, with Orgonte Lisia's rival for Dorinda's love.<ref name="Levine">{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Robert |title=Naumann: Aci e Galatea/Bernius/Stuttgart |url=https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-9089/ |website=Classics Today |access-date=11 March 2020}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|There is a performance of Polifemo's aria {{YouTube|z42kvJ_MqKg|Fulmine che dal Cielo}}}}

After John Gay's libretto in Britain, it was not until the 19th century that the subject was given further poetical treatment. In 1819 appeared ''The Death of Acis'' by [[Bryan Procter]], writing under the name of Barry Cornwall.{{sfn|Cornwall|1820|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/asicilianstoryw00procgoog#page/n120/mode/2up pp. 107ff]}} A blank verse narrative with lyric episodes, it celebrates the musicianship of Polyphemus, which draws the lovers to expose themselves from their hiding place in a cave and thus brings about the death of Acis. At the other end of the century, there was [[Alfred Austin]]'s dramatic poem "Polyphemus", which is set after the murder and transformation of the herdsman. The giant is tortured by hearing the happy voices of Galatea and Acis as they pursue their love duet.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-25105183/25105183#page/n1/mode/2up |last1=Austin |first1=Alfred |title=Polyphemus |journal=North American Review |date=July 1901 |volume=DXXXVI |access-date=2 March 2020}}</ref> Shortly afterwards [[Albert Samain]] wrote the 2-act verse drama ''Polyphème'' with the additional character of Lycas, Galatea's younger brother. In this the giant is humanised; sparing the lovers when he discovers them, he blinds himself and wades to his death in the sea. The play was first performed posthumously in 1904 with incidental music by Raymond Bonheur.{{sfn|Bempéchat|2009|pp=279–283}} On this the French composer [[Jean Cras]] based his operatic 'lyric tragedy' ''[[Polyphème]]'', composed in 1914 and first performed in 1922. Cras took Samain's text almost unchanged, subdividing the play's two acts into four and cutting a few lines from Polyphemus' final speech.{{sfn|Bempéchat|2009|pp=279–283}}

There have also been two Spanish musical items that reference Polyphemus' name. [[Reginald Smith Brindle]]'s four fragments for guitar, ''El Polifemo de Oro'' (1956), takes its title from [[Federico García Lorca]]'s poem, "The riddle of the guitar". That speaks of six dancing maidens (the guitar strings) entranced by 'a golden Polyphemus' (the one-eyed sound-hole).<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Polyphemus (Brindle) and Riddle of the guitar (Lorca) – Generation of '27 – Part 5 |url=https://www.kazu-classicalguitar.co.uk/essays/generation-27/part5/golden-polyphemus-riddle-guitar-brindle-lorca |website=Kazu Suwa {{!}} Classical Guitarist |access-date=2 March 2020 |language=en |date=18 May 2013}}</ref> The Spanish composer Andres Valero Castells takes the inspiration for his ''Polifemo i Galatea'' from Gongora's work. Originally written for brass band in 2001, he rescored it for orchestra in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |first1=José Antonio |last1=Hernández Arce |title=A Short Story by Oscar |url=http://elcoloquiodelosperros.net/a-short-story-by-oscar/ |website=Dialogue of the Dogs |access-date=12 March 2020 |date=10 August 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331021614/http://elcoloquiodelosperros.net/a-short-story-by-oscar/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====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.