Acis. Acis and Galatea are characters from Classical mythology later associated together in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The episode tells of the love between the mortal Acis and the Nereid Galatea; when the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus kills Acis, Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit. The episode was made the subject of poems, operas, paintings, and statues in the Renaissance and after. Galatea, daughter of Nereus and Doris, was a sea-nymph anciently attested in the work of both Homer and Hesiod, where she is described as the fairest and most beloved of the 50 Nereids. In Ovid's Metamorphoses she appears as the beloved of Acis, the son of Faunus and the river-nymph Symaethis, daughter of the River Symaethus. When a jealous rival, the Sicilian Cyclops Polyphemus, killed him with a boulder, Galatea then turned his blood into the Sicilian River Acis, of which he became the spirit. This version of the tale now occurs nowhere earlier than in Ovid's work and might perhaps have been a fiction invented by the poet, suggested by the manner in which the little river springs forth from under a rock. But according to the Greek scholar Athenaeus, the story was first concocted by Philoxenus of Cythera as a political satire against the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse, whose favourite concubine, Galatea, shared her name with the nymph. Others claim that the story was invented to explain the presence of a shrine dedicated to Galatea on Mount Etna. During Renaissance and Baroque times the story emerged once more as a popular theme. In Spain, Luis de Gongora y Argote wrote the much-admired narrative poem, Fabula 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. It was written in homage to an earlier and rather shorter narrative with the same title by Luis Carillo y Sotomayor The story was also given operatic treatment in the very popular zarzuela of Antoni Lliteres Carrio. The atmosphere here is lighter and enlivened by the inclusion of the clowns Momo and Tisbe. In France, Jean-Baptiste Lully devoted his opera Acis et Galatee to their love. Described by him as a pastoral-heroic work, it depicts a love triangle between the three main characters-Acis, Galatea, and Polipheme. Polipheme murders Acis out of jealousy, but Acis is revived and turned into a river by Neptune. In Italy Giovanni Bononcini's one-act opera Polifemo followed in 1703. Shortly afterwards George Frideric Handel was working in that country and composed the cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, 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 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 with an English libretto provided by John Gay. Initially composed in 1718, the work went through many revisions and was later to be given updated orchestrations by both Mozart and Mendelssohn. As a pastoral work where Polyphemus plays only a minor, though decisive part, it largely centres on the two lovers. In Austria later in the century, Joseph Haydn composed Acide e Galatea. Designed for an imperial wedding, it was given a happier ending centred on the transformation scene after the murder of Acis as the pair declare their undying love. Paintings featuring 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 Landscape with Polyphemus and Claude Lorrain's seaside landscape of 1657, in both of which the lovers play a minor part in the foreground. In an earlier painting by Poussin the couple is among several embracing figures in the foreground, shielded from view of Polyphemus, who is playing his flute higher up the slope. In all of these Polyphemus is somewhere in the background, but many others feature Galatea alone, as in Perino del Vaga's painting of her being drawn by sea beasts over the waves while riding on a seashell. Generally, though, the nymph is carried through the sea by adoring attendants in paintings generally titled The Triumph of Galatea, of which the most renowned treatment is by Raphael.