Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Momus.
The gallery
Momus Criticizes the Gods’ Creations
Maerten van Heemskerck, 1561
A painting by the Dutch Mannerist Maerten van Heemskerck illustrating the classical fable in which Momus, the personification of fault-finding, is asked to judge the creations of the gods and mocks them all in turn, a man, a bull and a house among them. The episode, known from Aesop and retold by Lucian, made Momus the patron figure of carping critics, and for his unrelenting censure he was cast out of Olympus.