Ancient Greek Oil Paintings

Greek subjects have been painted for five hundred years, and the reason is simple: the stories are built for it. A hunter goddess in a moonlit forest, a man in a labyrinth with a monster, a line of shields moving forward together. These are pictures before they are anything else.

What is in this collection

Around a hundred and forty paintings in three groups. Myth and gods is the largest: Artemis hunting under a moon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Aphrodite, the Olympians treated as figures rather than statues. War covers the Spartan charge, Macedonian cavalry riding with Alexander, hoplite lines holding. Land and city takes in sunrise over Mount Olympus, Argos, and the ruins as they stand in real light rather than in a diagram.

The palette is warm and dry, the light hard and low. It is Mediterranean light, and the paintings are made to carry it.

How each painting is made

Nothing here is printed. Each canvas is painted in oils after you order it, by an artist working from the reference on the page, which is why the lead time runs in weeks and no two are identical.

You set the dimensions rather than choosing from a fixed list. Three finishes are available: Simple for a clean, even surface, Texture for visible brushwork, and Museum for the heaviest impasto, which suits a classical subject particularly well.

Choosing one for a room

Mythological figures hold an upright format: a single tall canvas in a hallway, a stairwell or beside a fireplace reads at close range and does not need much wall around it. Battle and landscape subjects want width instead, and a viewer who can stand back.

These are dark-toned paintings for the most part. They sit well against a pale wall and can carry a room that has little natural light.

A subject that is not here

If there is a myth, a figure or a site you want and it is not in the collection, tell us. An artist will look at the composition before anything is agreed. Shipping is free worldwide.