“Epic tales, attributed to the Greek poet Homer, aren’t just adventure stories, although on that level alone they deserve to have endured for centuries. They’re also instructive moral and ethical allegories about virtues such as courage, fidelity and honor. European artists of the 17th through the 19th centuries were inspired by these sagas, which attests to their durable appeal. But now we’re in the 21st century. Do paintings and sculptures that propound classical ideals still have anything to say that today’s museumgoers would find meaningful?”