TRIUMPH OF GALATEA

Galatea (=skinned white as milk), was painted by Raphael from 1511 to 1512.

The fresco captures Galatea, escorted by Cupids, Nereids and Tritons, escaping from Polyphemus on a shell drawn by dolphins carrying her to Aci.

The myth of Galatea, particularly dear to the Greek poets of Sicily, says that Polyphemus in love with the nymph Galatea, she was in fact one of the 50 Nereids, tried to draw her by means of the sweet sound of his lustful flute.
But Galatea fled for refuge close to her beloved Aci.
The Cyclop angrily threw a boulder that killed Acis.
Then Galatea turned the blood of Acis into a spring, and he himself became an immortal river god.
In truth, this Polyphemus had the bad habit of pulling rocks left and right.

It also happened to Ulysses, but being a smart-ass, he got away, the stones fell into the sea in Aci Trezza (=close to the city of Catania in Sicily), and formed the stacks of Cyclops.

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