- Title:
- The Rape of Europa
- Object name(s):
- Picture; Italian
- Brief description:
- This painting depicts the mythological story of Europa, daughter of the King of Tyre, who, while playing on the seashore one day, was approached by a docile bull. Draping a flower garland on its horns, Europa unsuspectingly climbed onto its back. The bull, who was in fact the god Jupiter in disguise, carried her off to Crete. We see the moment of her abduction, just before her alarm turns to love.Guido Reni's biographer, Carlo Cesare Malvasia, cites three versions of the Rape of Europa painted by Reni for great personages; this work has been identified as the one delivered to King Wladislaw of Poland shortly before 1640. Its luminous tonality and cool, pale colouring are in keeping with the artist's late style, supporting the theory that it was made around 1640. During this period of his career, Reni's palette became notably lighter. He rendered figures in broad strokes of pale opaque colour, giving careful attention to the statuesque elegance of poses and draperies.
- Collection:
- National Gallery
- Accession date:
- 2013-01-07
- Date - earliest / single:
- 2013
- Date - latest:
- 2013
- Credit line:
- Presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon's Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013
- Current location:
- Room 32
- Current reproduction location:
- 3/522/908/510/mid_N-6642-00-000007.jpg
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 177.00
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 129.50
- Form:
- None
- Material:
- oil on canvas
- Material:
- oil
- Material:
- canvas
- Object name:
- Picture; Italian (Bolognese)
- Object production date:
- 1637-9
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1637
- Date - latest:
- 1639
- Object production date:
- Date - period:
- 1625-49
- Object production person:
- Guido Reni
- Person's birth date:
- 1575
- Person's death date:
- 1642
- Other number:
- NG6642
- Other number type:
- object number
- Other number:
- 0D6O-0001-0000-0000
- Other number type:
- PID
- Other number:
- NG6642
- Other number type:
- display number
- Other number:
- X2590
- Other number type:
- Previous Object Number
- Other number:
- M582
- Other number type:
- Previous Object Number
- Other number:
- L898
- Other number type:
- Previous Object Number
- Other number:
- 000-01F6-0000
- Other number type:
- PID (NG alternative)
- Other number:
- ng36642
- Other number type:
- sort number
- Responsible department/section:
- Main Collection
- Right note:
- To encourage the use and reuse of the National Gallery's collection data, they are released under the following dedications and licences: Structured data (as opposed to narrative texts) are released under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0): https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Descriptions, notes and all other narrative text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 licence (CC BY-NC-ND): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Style:
- Caravaggist
- Style:
- academic
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue
- Reference details:
- 780
- Reference note:
- Key bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2012 - March 2013
- Reference details:
- 16, 22
- Reference note:
- Key bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/26f1745f-5441-336a-a4d1-bfbb6bce5f7c
Use licence for this record: CC BY
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/26f1745f-5441-336a-a4d1-bfbb6bce5f7c, National Gallery, CC BY
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