Jupiter and Mercury with Philemon and Baucis
about 1620/22 | Peter Paul Rubens
Despite their great poverty, only Philemon and Baucis offered hospitality to the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who were wandering unrecognised on the earth (Ovid, Metamorphoses). As Baucis attempts to catch and slaughter the only goose they have, the creature flees to the gods, who reveal their identity to the couple. Then they punish everyone but Philemon and Baucis by letting them sink into a bog. Rubens’s composition provided the model for many other depictions of this subject in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Despite their great poverty, only Philemon and Baucis offered hospitality to the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who were wandering unrecognised on the earth (Ovid, Metamorphoses). As Baucis attempts to catch and slaughter the only goose they have, the creature flees to the gods, who reveal their identity to the couple. Then they punish everyone but Philemon and Baucis by letting them sink into a bog. Rubens’s composition provided the model for many other depictions of this subject in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Workshop:
Peter Paul Rubens (1577 Siegen - 1640 Antwerpen) DNB
Time:
about 1620/22
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Flemish
Material/technology:
Canvas
Dimensions:
153,5 cm × 187 cm
Framed: 184,5 cm × 219 cm × 11,5 cm
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 806
Provenance
documented 1659 in the Coll. Leopold Wilhelm in Vienna;