NEREIDES (greeting card)

Nereides

“Nereides” was created at 1902 using oil on canvas and is one of the most beautiful paintings of a French Symbolist painter.
Nereis, or Nerine, is a patronymic from Nereus, and applied to Nereus daughters (Nereides) by their mother Doris, who were regarded by the ancients as marine nymphs of the Mediterranean. The number of the Nereides was fifty. They are described as lovely divinities, and dwelling with their father at the bottom of the sea, and they were believed to be propitious to all sailors, and especially to the Argonauts.

They were worshipped in several parts of Greece, but more especially in sea-port towns such as Cardamyle, and on the Isthmus of Corinth. The epithets given them by the poets refer partly to their beauty and partly to their place of abode.

They were frequently represented in antiquity, in paintings, on gems, in relievoes and statues, and commonly as youthful, beautiful, and naked maidens, and often grouped together with Tritons and other marine monsters, in which they resemble the Bacchic routs. Sometimes, also, they appear on gems as half maidens and half fish, like mermaids, the belief in whom is quite analogous to the belief of the ancients in the existence of the Nereides.

Card size: DIN A6 (10 x 15 cm)

Greeting card with fold and white space inside to write down any compliments, description on the backside.
Premium quality envelope inclusive.