On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01114
- Author
- Ribera, José de (Spanish)
- Title
- Ixion
- Chronology
- 1632
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 220 cm x 301 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Father to the race of centaurs,
Ixion tried to usurp Jupiter's
place in Juno's bed. His punishment
was to eternally turn, tied to a
wheel, to expiate his crime. In
Ribera's work, a Satyr has just
chained him to the wheel and he
makes it turn with the help of
another Satyr standing behind it.
The latter's terrible face can be
glimpsed in the Tartar's
shadow.
Ribera offers us a violent image,
with the condemned figure upside
down, accentuating the dramatic
tension by his use of light, the
monumentality of the figures, their
forced anatomies and their gestural
expressivity.
This work has the same political
reading as its companion, Tityus
(P1113). In 1634 it was acquired by
the Marchioness of Charela,
possibly for the Buen Retiro
palace.
Location on the map
