Prometheus

In Prometheus Bound, the Greek tragedy attributed to Aeschylus, the chained Titan sums up his gift to humankind in a single line. Every art that mortals have, he says, comes from Prometheus. He stole fire from the gods, and with it he taught people to build houses, read the rising and setting of the stars, count, write and heal. A dome raised in honour of the arts could hardly leave him out, and Sargent gave him one of its four round paintings. The rotunda was unveiled on 20 October 1921, and Sargent was praised as a modern Michelangelo. The museum's guide of 1922 describes the scene. Prometheus lies half on his back, twisted, with fetters on both ankles and his hands chained behind him. The bird sent to punish him rests one claw on his left thigh, and the double arch of its great wings nearly hides him. Its head, bent to its meal, looks out over his right thigh. In the play that bird is an eagle, the winged hound of Zeus, while the 1922 guide calls it a vulture.