Italienischer Künstler des 17. Jahrhunderts Lot n° 831

DANAE Oil on wood. 27 x 42.5 cm. With old numbering verso. In gilded frame with foliage in relief. On the left side of the painting, the almost naked, slightly stretched-out, sleeping Danae on a white bedstead in front of a large, draped cloth. Her father had locked her in a tower to prevent her from fathering offspring - for it was prophesied that her son would kill his grandfather. Standing to her right is a winged Cupid with a bow and arrow and a quiver slung around his neck. Zeus, who greatly desired Danae, transformed himself into golden rain, which falls on the upper right-hand side of the picture, and thus gained access to her through the roof of the prison. Danae bore him Perseus, who later kills his grandfather Acrisius with a discus, which he hurls in a contest and which was deflected by the gods. (14006811) (3) (13)