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In classical mythology, Silenus was the guardian of forests. He was supposed to raise Bacchus when the latter was a child. Rubens depicts him in the customary manner: with goat ears and a scraggly beard, alluding to his condition as a wild being, and clothed only in buckskin. The mask on which he is leaning recalls his ties to the world of theater, as a Bacchic and festive deity. Rubens once again
A model for the tapestry on the same subject that belongs to a series of eight about the Greek hero. The Story of Achilles is smaller than other projects by Rubens, but the quality of its sketches, models and tapestries make it one of his most important."Betrayed", wrote the seventeenth-century painter Pieter van Lint on his small drawing after one of the versions of the tapestry depicting Achille
This canvas and its companion, Taste, Hearing and Touch (P1404), represent the five senses embodied by female figures in palatial interiors. The sense of smell is conveyed by a woman holding flowers, while Sight contemplates herself in a mirror held by a cherub. They are located in a hall filled with paintings and sculptures, a sort of cabinet of paintings that could reflect an idealized represent
The scene is set in a lush wooded clearing that opens into the distance at the center. A brightly lit anchorite in a Mercedarian habit kneels in the foreground, praying in front of a crucifix. The space is enclosed on both sides by trees and boulders but the horizon visible through the center consists of high mountains lit by soft dawn light. Scattered around the landscape are deer and a few build
These two paintings (P7804 and P7805) are part of a series on similar subjects, yet they stand out among Giandomenico`s work. These works are small depictions of everyday life in Venice, exquisitely rendered with a very agile touch that reflects the technical skills Giandomenico learnt from his father. This genre work is infrequent in Giandomenico`s oeuvre. In Spain the only known works of this so
This painting, prepared by Paret in an excellent drawing (British Museum in London, inv. 1890,1209.50) and titled Baile in máscara (The Masked Ball), on a cartouche as a kind of label, is one of the earliest known works by the artist. It demonstrates great technical and compositional skill in arranging a subtly illuminated interior filled with a multitude of figures. The varied dress, poses
Various personages, semi-nude or wearing tunics, dance, drink, eat grapes, play instruments and enjoy themselves in a garden around a bust of Bacchus. Various popular and classical buildings are visible in the background. This work shows all of the influences present in Houasse´s painting. The academicist tendency of the figures is mixed with hints of Poussin, Titian and Watteau. Moreover, some fa
Fortuny’s sudden death left this painting unfinished, yet it remains one of his finest pieces, and the maximum expression of the audacious pictorial modernity that characterizes his mature work.The two children that appear in this canvas are the artist’s own son and daughter, Mariano and María Luisa. They rest on the long divan in the Japanese Room at Villa Arata, the Fortuny family’s summe
Sebastian was a Roman soldier who suffered martyrdom for his Christian faith during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian at the end of the third century. He was made a patron saint of the city of Rome and his cult became popular throughout Europe as he was invoked in times of plague. Sebastian is usually shown bound to a tree and shot with arrows in what turned out to be a first failed attempt at
In this complex allegory, Mars, the god of war, is rejected by his lover Venus, who symbolises the peace painted by Rubens (1577-1640). On the ground at the lower edge we see objects destroyed by war: political power (the sceptre and orb); commerce or scientific knowledge (the astrolabe and armillary sphere); literature or peace treaties (a rolled-up manuscript) and diferent arts (the mask, the st
Parnassus, the mythological mountain of Apollo and the Muses is the scene for a celebration of the Arts, especially Poetry. Apollo offers the nectar of the gods to a poet, probably Homer, who is crowned with a laurel wreath by Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. The putti in the foreground offer the poets the water of inspiration that flows from the spring of Castalia, personified by the nude woman
The duchess wears a red silk masquerade gown with a mother-of-pearl overskirt decorated with branch motifs and fur edging, under a red-and-gold coat that matches her whimsical headdress. Holding a black mask in her right hand, she stands in a gallery through which we see the sky and some trees that create a vanishing point while simultaneously allowing the artist to include some elements of offici
This is a preparatory drawing for an unpublished plate from Los Caprichos. The only remaining print of that plate is a single proof printed on the back of another etching at the Biblioteca Nacional (1797-1799, No. 45637; H 119.I.2). It is part of Dreams, a group of drawings that form the basis for Los Caprichos and were a customary subject for representations during that period. Dream of Lies and
The right half of the sheet, with studies of fifteen heads, including a mask in profile, upper right corner, repeats a drawing by an imitator of Cambiaso in the Accademia, Venice (inv. no. 418). Both the left and right sections are repeated in two studio drawings in Berlin (inv. nos. 16031 and 16032).
The female caryatids distantly recall some of Orsi´s figure types.
This drawing depicts Tragedy seated on a column in front of a curtain, holding a mask in her right hand and a dagger in her left. On the right of the composition are three figures who appear to be performing a theatrical scene, and on the left is a naked child in front of books and musical instruments.
