3-096-090 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London; photographer: Paul Highnam"/Heritage Images

Minerva bringing Pegasus to Bellerophon, before 1866. Plaster relief depicting a scene from Homer's Iliad: Minerva presenting the flying horse Pegasus, with its golden bridal, to Bellerophon. Her gift was intended to help the young Corinthian hero fight the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster. According to Gibson, images of Bellerophon's adventures often featured on ancient vases, but were rarely depicted in modern times. He was drawn to the subject as it gave him the opportunity to display 'three of the most beautiful objects in nature... the man, female & the horse.' It also allowed him to show his dexterity in presenting contrasting character types through the 'robust and active' hero and the 'dignified draped' Minerva. Bellerophon leading Pegasus to water is the subject of a relief dating to the 2nd century AD/CE in the Palazzo Spada, Rome, which Gibson may have known.