Tag: Mythology

Venus and Cupid (after 1660)

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Venus and Cupid after 1660 Oil on canvas, 118 x 90 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Former title: Hendrickje Stoffels as Venus For vague reasons of resemblance, the painting passes, a pure supposition of Bredius (1910), to represent…

Philemon and Baucis (1658)

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Philemon and Baucis 1658 Oil on panel transferred to panel, 54.5 x 68.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with…

Flora (1634)

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Flora 1634 Oil on canvas, 125 x 101 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Rembrandt van Rijn, the greatest artist of the Golden Age of the Dutch school, is represented in the Hermitage with remarkable fullness: besides a superb collection…

Danae (1636)

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Danae 1636 Oil on canvas, 185 x 202.5 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Love undoubtedly also inspired Rembrandt to produce Danaë. The subject was taken from the ancient myth about a princess of Argos, whose father, the king, was…

Helen arriving in Troy (1685-1690)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Helen arriving in Troy c.1685–1690 Oil on canvas, 60 x 67 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Title: The Landing of Helen led by Paris to the palace of Priam, in Troy Former title: Landing of Cleopatra at…

Hercules between Vice and Virtue (c.1685)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Hercules between Vice and Virtue c.1685 Oil on canvas, 112 x 181 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris The theme comes from the famous apologue of Prodicas, transmitted by Xenophon (Memorabilia, II, 1, 21-34), often represented by painters…

Bacchus and Ariadne (c.1680)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Bacchus and Ariadne c.1680 Oil on canvas, 175.2 x 92.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (on loan from Mauritshuis, The Hague) Ovid described the following scene in his Metamorphoses: on the island of Naxos, Bacchus, the god of wine, chances upon…

Mercury Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus (c.1680)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Mercury Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus c.1680 Oil on canvas, 132 x 96 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam During his wanderings, Odysseus encounters the nymph Calypso, who falls in love with him and holds him captive on her island.…

Odysseus and Calypso (c.1680)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Odysseus and Calypso c.1680 Oil on canvas, 125 x 94 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The Greek poet Homer recounts how the heroic warrior Odysseus found refuge on the island of the nymph Calypso. The Trojan War is over:…