ESSAY text by ALAIN DE BOTTON artwork by DAN COLEN In Book 10 of the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, we’re introduced to one of the world’s more curious but telling myths: a Cypriot sculptor called Pygmalion has developed a problem with women. He has seen the daughters of a local man called Propoetus refuse to honor Venus, the goddess of love, and then turn to prostitution. As a result, he has decided he is “not interested in women” and devotes himself to his work instead. But, for old time’s sake, he does carve a woman out of ivory, shaped into exactly the form he has always longed for. When she is finished, as he gazes up at her nakedness, Pygmalion discovers that he has fallen deeply in love. Bereft at the thought that she is merely a statue, he implores Venus to take pity on him. In exchange for a…