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02-06-2026
Peter Paul Rubens

Siegen, Westphalia (Germany), 1577 - Antwerp (Belgium), 1640

Peter Paul Rubens See author's file

Apollo and the Serpent Python

1636 - 1637. Oil on panel.
Room 079

Apollo fights the terrible Python to free beautiful Andromeda, who was destined to be one of the victims of this monster. She is sketched in behind the beast. In the air, Cupid shoots his arrows into the God, alluding to the love arising between Apollo and Andromeda, as told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. This sketch was made as part of the projected decoration of the Torre de la Parada and was used by Cornelis de Vos as the basis for a painting on the same subject. It displays Rubens skill at generating the same sensuality and poetic character in these small panels as in his large-format mythological works.

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Inventory number
P002040
Author
Peter Paul Rubens
Title
Apollo and the Serpent Python
Date
1636 - 1637
Technique
Oil
Support
Panel
Dimension
Height: 26.8 cm; Width: 42.2 cm
Series
Torre de la Parada
Provenance
Manuel Álvarez de Toledo y Lesparre, 12th Duke of Pastrana, 1886; bequest of María Dionisia Vives y Zires, Duchess of Pastrana, 1889
Entry date
1889

Bibliography +

Rooses, Max, Rubens. S. VIe et Ses Oeuvres, Flammarion, Paris, 1903, pp. 596-599.

Alpers, Svetlana, The Decoration of The Torre de la Parada, Corpus rubenianum Ludwig Burchard T IX, Amberes, 1971, pp. 177-178.

Díaz Padrón, Matías, Museo del Prado. Catálogo de pinturas. Escuela flamenca, Museo del Prado; Patronato Nacional de Museos, Madrid, 1975, pp. 299-301.

Held, Julius S., The oil sketches of Peter Paul Rubens : a critical catalogue..., The National Gallery of Art, Princeton, 1980, pp. 255-256.

Díaz Padrón, Matías, El siglo de Rubens en el Museo del Prado: catálogo razonado, Prensa Ibérica, Barcelona, 1995, pp. 1028.

Vergara, Alejandro, The Presence of Rubens in Spain., I II, A Bell & Howell Company, Ann Arbor, 1999, pp. 545.

García Gual, C., 'Relato mítico y momento pictórico. Rubens y Ovidio'. En Historias inmortales, Barcelona, 2003, pp. 281-298.

Posada Kubissa, Teresa, Rubens en la colección Pastrana-Infantado, Boletín del Museo del Prado, XXI, 2003, pp. 24-40.

Classical mythology in the Netherlands in the age of Renaiss..., Peeters, Amberes, 2009.

Georgievska-Shine, Aneta Silver, Larry, Rubens, Velázquez, and the King of Spain, Ashgate, Surrey, 2014, pp. 49,51 Lám.9 fg.3.2.

Mena Marqués, M.; Albarrán, V., Azúa, F. de, La belleza cautiva. Pequeños tesoros del Museo del Prado = La bellesa captiva. Petits tresors del Museo del Prado, Museo del Prado - Obra Social "La Caixa", Barcelona, 2014, pp. 108.

Prado captive beauty: treasures from the Prado Museum, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, 2015, pp. n.32.

Lozano López, J.C, 'Flandes y la pintura en Aragón en los siglos XVI-XVII', Aragón y Flandes. Un encuentro artístico (siglos XV-XVII)., Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 2015, pp. 102-130 [124].

Silver, L, 'Ruben's Myths for the Rey Planeta at the Torre de la Parada' En: The Age of Rubens: diplomacy, dynastic politics and the visual arts in Early Seventeenth century., Brepols,, 2016, pp. 235-254 [237 f.2].

Vergara, Alejandro, 'P.P.Rubens. Serie de la Torre de la Parada', En: Rubens pintor de bocetos, Museo Nacional del Prado,, Madrid, 2018, pp. 208-222 n.65.

Jover de Celis, Maite, Las marcas de fabricación como herramienta de datación en los soportes de madera de la pintura flamenca del siglo XVII en el Museo del Prado, Boletín del Museo del Prado, XXXVII n 55-57, 2019-2021, pp. 96-109 [nt 41].

Other inventories +

Inv. Nuevas Adquisiciones (iniciado en 1856). Núm. 957.
Autor P.P. Rubens / 957. Un cuadro titulado 'Apolo y la serpiente piton' / Alto 0,27 ancho 0,42

Inscriptions +

T.957
Inscribed in blue. Front, lower right corner

B-2
Inscribed. Back, Upper left area

No159 / Colección/Pastrana
Handwritten label in black ink. Back, Upper central area

2040
Inscribed with chalk. Back, Upper right area

B-51
Inscribed with chalk. Back, Upper central area

nº25
Inscribed. Back, lower left area

MUSÉES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS DE BELGIQUE/9, RUE DE MUSÉES-BRUXELLES/EXPOSITION ESQUISSES DE RUBENS/Titre: Apollon et le serpent Python nº2040/Propiétaire: Prado Madrid/Adrese: Espagne
Handwritten label. Back, lower central area

Exhibitions +

Rubens. Painter of Sketches
Madrid
10.04.2018 - 05.08.2018

Captive Beauty. Treasures from The Prado Museum
Tokio
10.10.2015 - 31.01.2016

Captive Beauty. Small Treasures at the Prado Museum
Barcelona
16.07.2014 - 05.01.2015

Captive Beauty. Fra Angelico to Fortuny
Madrid
21.05.2013 - 10.11.2013

Rubens
Madrid
05.11.2010 - 23.01.2011

Velázquez, Rubens, Claudio de Lorena y la pintura en la corte de Felipe IV
Bonn
07.10.1999 - 23.01.2000

Location +

Room 079 (On Display)

Expuesto
Update date: 02-06-2026 | Registry created on 28-04-2015

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