Subjects of Paintings
By Italian Artists of the Renaissance and the Baroque
Q. What is the maid in Titian’s “Danaë” (c. 1553) doing?
A. Attempting to catch in her apron the shower of gold into which Jupiter has transformed himself.
In Roman mythology, King Acrisius of Argos consulted an oracle about his lack of a male heir. The oracle told him that his fate was to be killed by his daughter's child. Since she was childless and he meant her to remain so, Acrisius shut her up in a tower. But the god Jupiter came to her in the form of golden rain and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born. Totally upset at this turn of events, but not willing to invoke the anger of the gods by killing his offspring, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest. Due to the intervention of the gods, the two were saved and the boy was raised to manhood in order to fulfill his destiny.
Italian Renaissance master Titian created this painting, one of several mythological subjects, for Philip II of Spain. In an earlier version that Titian created to depict this myth, rather than the maid catching the shower of gold in her apron, Danaë herself, against a bank of plumped pillows, eagerly anticipates the shower of coins that pelt in a shaft of honey-colored light toward her open thighs.
Art enthusiasts can see this painting in the Prado, Madrid.
Q. What is Giovanni Battista Ricciardi in the portrait by Italian Baroque artist Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) doing?
A. Writing on a skull the Greek words “Behold, Whither, When.”
Italian Baroque artist Salvator Rosa was known for his wildly romantic landscapes, vastly different in atmosphere to the more idyllic and pastoral landscapes of his contemporary, Claude Lorrain.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this portrait was a gift by Rosa to his friend Ricciardi (1624–1686), a man well-read in philosophy. The painting is described in the inventory drawn up after his death as "a philosopher who writes on a skull." Although it is typically described as a portrait of Ricciardi, the Met believes the figure is likely a self-portrait because it so closely resembles the artist, Rosa, himself.
Art lovers can visit this portrait in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Sources:
- Bailey, Colin J. The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings. Station Press: Scotland, 1995.
- Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press, 2008.
