Not until the 1930s and 1940s did scholars realize that “The Spinners,” by 17th-century painter Diego Velázquez, contained mythological content. The figures in the background weren’t, as many viewers believed, simply showing the tapestry woven by the women in the foreground. In the background, the Spanish painter depicted part of the ancient Greek myth of Arachne, which is the central story of his painting and explains its alternative title, “The Fable of Arachne.”
In “The Metamorphoses,” Ovid described how Arachne, a girl of humble birth and parentage, wove cloth so exquisitely—from the spinning of the yarn through to the finished decoration—that “often the nymphs of Mount Tmolus deserted their vine-covered slopes, and the nymphs of the River Pactolus deserted their waves, to examine her wonderful workmanship.” But Arachne always denied that her talent was bestowed by the goddess of handicrafts, Pallas Athena. Full of bravado, Arachne challenged Pallas to a weaving competition, vowing that if the goddess won, then she would concede that her artistic gifts were divinely bestowed.
