Artwork Information

Zeus, Greek father of the gods, punished Prometheus for creating the first man from clay and giving him fire, by having the Titan chained to a rock. Zeus is depicted in the top right corner with the eagle that then descends each day to feed on his liver. At first glance Bia might seem to comfort Prometheus's splayed figure, but in fact she steadies the stake that will be hammered through his chest, re-figuring an ongoing eighteenth-century fascination with vampires and the story of Vlad the Impaler. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)