Danaë
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Where to see it
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
About the painting
Danaë is a painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. It was first completed in 1636, but Rembrandt reworked it significantly by 1643 at the latest. Once part of Pierre Crozat's collection, it has been in the Hermitage Museum, in St. Petersburg, Russia, since the 18th century.
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It is a life-sized depiction of the character Danaë from Greek mythology, the mother of Perseus. She is presumably depicted as welcoming Zeus, who impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold. Given that this is one of Rembrandt's most magnificent paintings, it is not out of the question that he cherished it, but it also may have been difficult to sell because of the canvas' large size. Although the artist's wife Saskia was the original model for Danaë, Rembrandt later changed the figure's face to that of his mistress Geertje Dircx.
The reworking changed the positions of, among other things, the head, outstretched arm and legs of Danaë. The painting has been considerably cut down. It has a hard-to-read signature with a date ending in "6", but this may not be genuine. It was seriously vandalised in 1985, but has since been restored.
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Similar works
Image: Rembrandt; Wikimedia Commons · public domain