On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00426
- Author
- Titian [Vecellio di Gregorio Tiziano] (Italian)
- Title
- Sisyphus
- Chronology
- 1548-1549
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 237 cm x 216 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- No
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Sisyphus, king of Corinth, climbs
the mountain carrying a boulder, as
he was condemned to do for eternity
by Pluto, god of the underworld.
Sisyphus had very cleverly tricked
the gods numerous times, and even
managed to escape death, itself. In
order to prevent him from escaping
after his death, Pluto obliged him
to carry a boulder to the top of a
mountain, but it always fell down
just before he reached the
top.
Along with Ticius (P427), Tantalus
and Ixion, this work is part of the
group known as the Condemned or the
Furies, which Titian painted at the
behest of María de Hungría
(1505-1558), who was the sister of
Carlos V (1500-1558). The latter
two works were lost when Madrid's
Alcázar Palace burned in 1734. They
were conceived with a moral
purpose, as a warning to those who
dared defy the Emperor in his
struggle against the
Protestants.
This work entered the Prado Museum
in 1828.
