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Great Paintings Explained: Sisyphus by Titian
The Greek king punished with the torture of repetition
There are some punishments in Greek mythology whose defining characteristic is profound frustration.
Take the fate of Tantalus, for instance, who made the mistake of gravely offending the gods. By way of retribution, he was made to stand on the edge of a thirst-quenching pool of water, only for the water to recede whenever he bent down to collect a drop.
Not only that, but Tantalus had a fruit tree hanging just over his head, the branches of which would lift away every time he stretched to take a bite. It is from Tantalus that we get our word “tantalising”: to tease or torment with the promise of something unobtainable.
The figure of Sisyphus faced a similarly excruciating torment. This painting, made by the Venetian painter Titian in around 1549, captures the essential elements.
Sisyphus was a prisoner of the underworld, forced to roll a block of stone to the top of a mountain, only for the stone to roll back down again, repeating this for all eternity.
