Myth was a major resource for Renaissance painters, many of whom used Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Fasti. Best known is Giovanni Bellini, the story of the gods gathering as his source for The Feast of the Gods, and Piero di Cosimo, The Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths. In modern times, many have used Ovid and others as resources, but few artists have used myth for picnicking.
Norman Lindsay. The Picnic Gods (1907). Pen and black ink on white wove paper. National Gallery of Australia
Jean Renoir. Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (1959). Gaspar the goatherd is a stand-in for the Great God Pan
David Ligare. Hercules Protecting the Balance Between Pleasure and Virtue (1993), oil on canvas. Private Collection; http://www.davidligare.com/