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Ixion is a 1632 oil painting, signed and dated by Jusepe de Ribera. It shows a scene from Classical mythology, of Ixion being tortured as the eternal punishment meted out by Zeus. It is one of a series of four paintings by Ribera of the four "Furies" or "Condemned" from Greek mythology. It is held by the Museo del Prado in Madrid, along with Ribera's painting of Tityos ; the other two, of Sisyphus and Tantalus, are lost.
Ixion was king of the Lapiths and later father of the Centaurs. He was outlawed after murdering his father in law Deioneus. Pardoned by Zeus, he was welcomed to Mount Olympus, but betrayed Zeus's hospitality by trying to seduce his host's wife Hera. As punishment, Zeus sentenced Ixion to be tied to a perpetually turning wheel of fire in Tartaros.
Titian made a similar series of four paintings in 1548–1549 for Binche Palace, the residence of Mary of Hungary in the Habsburg Netherlands, where Mary was Governor for 24 years. On her death in 1558, the series was inherited by Philip II of Spain, and displayed at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, where they may have influenced Ribera's similar series. Titian's Ixion and Tantalus were lost in the catastrophic fire at the Royal Alcázar in 1734, but the Prado holds Titian's Sisyphus and Tityus (although the Tityus is believed to be a later version by Titian dated to c. 1565, and not the 1540s original). The composition of Titian's lost painting of Tantalus is known from engravings by Giulio Sanuto .
Joachim Sandrart wrote in 1675 that Ribera had painted an earlier series of four paintings of the Furies, similar to Titian's series, for Lucas van Uffelen, which Van Uffelen rejected because his wife found them unsettling. The original versions by Ribera are lost, but the series is known from later copies in the Museo del Prado.
In the painting, the condemned man is depicted face down, his agony expressed by his contorted position and strained muscles, with the dramatic tension accentuated by the lighting. Ixion's large body emerges from a black background and seems to be toppling onto the viewer, whose attention is also drawn by the executioner's fierce gesture to the lower left. His tormentor is a male figure with horns and pointed ears, possibly a satyr. This character is an invention of the artist; in classical mythology, the torments of Hades were administered by the Furies, who were all female, Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. The painter may have been inspired in this by an epic poem L'Adone (Adonis) by Giambattista Marino, published in 1632, in which a character with donkey's ears represents greed and ignorance. [1] A second devilish figure appears in the shadows to the lower right.
This work measures 220 cm × 301 cm (87 in × 119 in). It was part of a series of four paintings known as Las Furias (Spanish: "the Furies", also known as "the Condemned"): the other three showed the tortures of Sisyphus, Tantalus and Tityos. Only two of Ribera's series – this painting of Ixion and the painting of Tityos – still survive, both now in the Museo del Prado.
It is not known who commissioned Ribera's series of the "Furies", though its large format and theme of torture inflicted on rebels against just authority suggests a royal commission. All four paintings were sold in 1634 by the Marquesa de Charela (mother of Maria de Charela, who was a mistress of Philip IV of Spain and mother of his short-lived illegitimate son Fernando Francisco Isidro de Austria), and bought by Jerónimo de Villanueva , protonotary of the Council of Aragon, for the Spanish royal collection. They were displayed at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, and Ixion and Tityus were moved the Buen Retiro Palace, where they remained until they were transferred to the Prado after it was founded in 1819. [1] Ribera's paintings of Sisyphus and Tantalus are lost, possibly among the 500 works destroyed in the 1734 fire at the Royal Alcázar.
The art historian Jonathan Brown has suggested that the painting of Ixion was intended to be displayed in a vertical format, so the satyr appears in a more normal upright position and the composition appears more balanced, but the placement of the signature implies a horizontal format.
The Prado Museum, officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The Prado Museum is one of the most visited sites in the world and is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now one of the largest outside Italy.
Jusepe de Ribera was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to a series of Ribera exhibitions held in the late 20th century, Philippe de Montebello wrote "If Ribera's status as the undisputed protagonist of Neapolitan painting had ever been in doubt, it was not longer. Indeed, to many it seemed that Ribera emerged from these exhibitions as not simply the greatest Neapolitan artist of his age but one of the outstanding European masters of the seventeenth century." Jusepe de Ribera has also been referred to as José de Ribera, Josep de Ribera, and Lo Spagnoletto by his contemporaries, early historians, and biographers.
Francesc Ribalta , also known as Francisco Ribaltá or de Ribalta, was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects.
Antonio de Pereda y Salgado was a Spanish Baroque-era painter, best known for his still lifes.
The Royal Alcázar of Madrid was a fortress located at the site of today's Royal Palace of Madrid, Madrid, Spain. The structure was originally built in the second half of the ninth century by the Muslims, then extended and enlarged over the centuries, particularly after 1560. It was at this time that the fortress was converted into a royal palace, and Madrid became the capital of the Spanish Empire. Despite being a palace, the great building kept its original arabic title of Alcázar.
Venus and Adonis is a painting by the Italian late Mannerist artist Paolo Veronese, executed in the early 1580s, now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid.
The Salón de Reinos or salón grande is a 17th-century building in Madrid, originally a wing of the Buen Retiro Palace. The Salón de Reinos and the Casón del Buen Retiro are the only survivors of the original grand scheme of the palace. Built between 1630 and 1635, the Hall of Realms housed the largest paintings in the royal collection, now all in the Museo del Prado. It is named after its paintings of the coats of arms of the 24 kingdoms which formed the Kingdom of Spain at the time of Philip IV of Spain.
The Bacchanal of the Andrians or The Andrians is an oil painting by Titian. It is signed "TICIANUS F.[aciebat]" and is dated to 1523–1526.
Tityus is a mythological painting by Titian dating to 1549 in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It shows the punishment of the giant Tityos from Greek mythology.
Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga is a painting by Titian, who signed it Ticianus f.. Today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, it portrays Federico II, Duke of Mantua who married in 1529; the portrait may have been commissioned for the occasion. The dog, a Maltese, is a symbol of faithfulness.
The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest is an oil painting by El Greco, one of the earliest works painted by the artist in Spain.
The Adoration of the Magi is a very large oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. He first painted it in 1609 and later gave it a major reworking between 1628 and 1629 during his second trip to Spain. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Women Gladiators is a painting by Jusepe de Ribera made in oil on canvas. It is conserved in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Martyrdom of Saint Philip is a painting by Jusepe de Ribera from 1639.
Tityos is a 1632 painting, signed and dated by Jusepe de Ribera and showing the torture inflicted on the giant Tityos. It was part of a series of four paintings - the other three showed the tortures of Sisyphus, Tantalus and Ixion, but only those of Tityos and Ixion still survive, both now in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Democritus is an oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, executed in 1630, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. It is believed to depict the Ancient Greek philosopher Democritus.
Isaac and Jacob is an oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, executed in 1637, which since 1918 has been in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
The Spanish royal collection of art was almost entirely built up by the monarchs of the Habsburg family who ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700, and then the Bourbons. They included a number of kings with a serious interest in the arts, who were patrons of a series of major artists: Charles V and Philip II were patrons of Titian, Philip IV appointed Velázquez as court painter, and Goya had a similar role at the court of Charles IV.
Salome, also known as Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, is an oil painting by the Venetian painter Titian, made in about 1550, and currently in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It is not to be confused with other compositions of Salome and Judith by Titian.
Sisyphus is an oil painting by the Venetian master Titian, made in 1548 or 1549. It is in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
