E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pygma’lion.
A statuary of Cyprus, who hated women and resolved never to marry, but fell in love with his own statue of the goddess Venus. At his earnest prayer the statue was vivified, and he married it. (Ovid: Metamorphoses, x.; Earthly Paradise, August.)
1
“Few, like Pygmalion, doat on lifeless charms,
Or care to clasp a statue in their arms.”
S. Jenyns: Art of Dancing, canto i.
In Gilbert’s comedy of Pygmalion and Galata, the sculptor is a married man, whose wife (Cynisca) was jealous of the animated statue (Galata), which, after enduring great misery, voluntarily returned to its original state. This, of course, is mixing up two Pygmalions, wide as the poles apart.
2
John Marston wrote certain satires called The Metamorphoses of Pygmalion’s Image. These satires were suppressed, and are now very rare.
In Gilbert’s comedy of Pygmalion and Galat
a, the sculptor is a married man, whose wife (Cynisca) was jealous of the animated statue (Galat
