| Jupiter and Io | |
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| Artist | Antonio da Correggio |
| Year | c. 1532–1533 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 163.5 cm× 70.5 cm(64.4 in× 27.8 in) |
| Location | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Jupiter and Io is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio around 1530. It now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. [1]
The series of Jupiter's Loves was conceived after the success of Venus and Cupid with a Satyr . Correggio painted four canvasses in total, although others had been programmed perhaps.
In the first edition of his Lives , late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari mentions only two of the paintings, Leda and the Swan (today at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and one Venus (presumably the Danae currently in the Borghese Gallery of Rome), although he knew them only from descriptions provided by Giulio Romano. Vasari mentions that the commissioner, Duke Federico Gonzaga II of Mantua, wanted to donate the works to emperor and King of Spain Charles V: that the other two works, Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle and Jupiter and Io, were in Spain during the 16th century implies that they were part of the same series. British art historian Cecil Gould suggested that Federico had commissioned the Io and Ganymede for himself, and that they were ceded to Charles V only after the duke's death in 1540, perhaps on occasion of the marriage of the king's son, Philip; [2] other hypothesized that Federico ordered them for the Ovid room in his Palazzo Te. [3]
The canvas was in Vienna since as early as the 1610s, when it is mentioned in the Habsburg imperial collections together with Ganymede . [2]
The scene of Jupiter and Io is inspired by Ovid's classic Metamorphoses . Io, daughter of Inachus, the first king of Argos, is seduced by Jupiter (Zeus in Greek), who hides behind the dunes to avoid hurting the jealous Juno (Hera in Greek). Jupiter was often tempted by other women and took on various disguises in order to cover his various escapades, one time taking the form of a swan, another time of an eagle, and in this painting he is not becoming something else so much as enveloping himself in a dark cloud, even though it is bright daylight. He is embracing the nymph, his face barely visible above hers. She is pulling Jupiter's vague, smoky hand towards herself with barely contained sensuality; this is a sensual painting, depicting one of the many loves of the god. Indeed, the Duke of Mantua, Federico Gonzaga, wanted to place the painting and its companion pieces in a room dedicated to the loves of Jupiter.
Noteworthy is the contrast between the evanescent figure of the immaterial Jupiter, and the sensual substance of Io's body, shown lost in an erotic rapture which anticipates the works of Bernini and Rubens.
Isabella d'Este was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure.
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, usually known as just Correggio, was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the sixteenth century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the seventeenth century and the Rococo art of the eighteenth century. He is considered a master of chiaroscuro.
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Giulio Pippi, known as Giulio Romano, was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-century style known as Mannerism. Giulio's drawings have long been treasured by collectors; contemporary prints of them engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi were a significant contribution to the spread of sixteenth-century Italian style throughout Europe.
Pisanello, born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento. He was acclaimed by poets such as Guarino da Verona and praised by humanists of his time, who compared him to such illustrious names as Cimabue, Phidias and Praxiteles.
Venus and Cupid with a Satyr is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio. It is now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Francesco Bonsignori, also known as Francesco Monsignori, was an Italian painter and draughtsman, characterized by his excellence in religious subjects, portraits, architectural perspective and animals. He was born in Verona and died in Caldiero, a city near Verona. Bonsignori's style in early period was under the influence of his teacher Liberale da Verona. After becoming the portraitist and court artist to the Gonzaga family of Mantua in 1487, his style was influenced by Andrea Mantegna, who also worked for Francesco Gonzaga from the 1480s. They collaborated to execute several religious paintings, mainly with the theme of Madonna and Child. The attribution of theportrait of a Venetian Senator was debatable until the last century because of the similarity in techniques used by Bonsignori and his teacher Mantegna. During the phase of his career in Mantua, there is an undocumented period between 1495 and July 1506 with no official record regarding his activities by the court of Mantua. Bonsignori's late style was decisively influenced by Lorenzo Costa in terms of form and color. He produced his last monumental altarpiece the Adoration of the Blessed Osanna Andreasi in 1519 shortly before his death.
In Greek mythology, Ganymede or Ganymedes is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals and tells the story of how he was abducted by the gods to serve as Zeus's cup-bearer in Olympus.
[Ganymedes] was the loveliest born of the race of mortals, and therefore
the gods caught him away to themselves, to be Zeus' wine-pourer,
for the sake of his beauty, so he might be among the immortals.
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is arguably the greatest private collection of Western art, especially Italian, ever assembled, and probably the most famous, helped by the fact that most of the collection has been accessible to the public since it was formed, whether in Paris, or subsequently in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere.
The Venetian painter Titian and his workshop made at least six versions of the same composition showing Danaë, painted between about 1544 and the 1560s. The scene is based on the mythological princess Danaë, as – very briefly – recounted by the Roman poet Ovid, and at greater length by Boccaccio. She was isolated in a bronze tower following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father. Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus, who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to seduce her in the form of a shower of gold.
Danaë is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, executed around 1531 and now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.
Adoration of the Christ Child is an oil on canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, dating from around 1526 and housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy.
Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Cupid Making His Bow is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Venus with Mercury and Cupid, The School of Love or The Education of Cupid is a c. 1525 painting by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the National Gallery. It depicts the deities Cupid, Mercury, and Venus.
Leda and the Swan is an oil on canvas painting from 1530–31 by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows three scenes of Leda's seduction by Jupiter who has taken the form of a swan. Their first meeting is shown on the right hand side and their lovemaking in the centre, where Leda sits with the swan between her thighs, guiding him with her left hand. They are accompanied to their left by Cupid with his bow and two cupids with flutes. The third scene is the swan flying away whilst Leda gets dressed. Leda and the Swan was a common subject in 16th-century art.
The Fall of the Giants is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Giulio Romano. Born in Rome Giulio Romano was a pupil of Raphael. In the year 1522 he was courted by Federico II Gonzaga, the ruler of Mantua, who wanted him as his court artist as he was especially attracted by his skill as an architect. In the year 1524 Romano moved to Mantua where he remained for the rest of his life. According to Vasari, Baltasare Castilliogne was delegated by Federico II Gonzaga to procure Romano to execute paintings and architectureal procjects in the city of Mantua, Italy. His masterpiece of architecture and fresco painting in that city is the Palazzo del Te, with is famous illusionistic frescos. In one of rooms of palazzo, the Sala dei Giganti Giulio Romano had depicted the Gigantomachy,an episode derived from Greek mythology. The fresco was created between 1532 and 1534 and it was based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, a narrative poem consisting of 15 books that was written in Latin around 8 C.E. The episode of Gigantomachy depicts Jupiter defeating the Giants with his lighting. According to other versions of the myth, Jupiter resisted the Giants' assault thanks to the intervention of Pan or of the asses of Silenus and Bacchus. Nevertheless, in the 16th century in Italy it was uncommon to hear Latin. Texts were changed in structure and substance when transferred to Vulgate, so it should be understood that Giulio Romano had used the vernacular translation of the Metamorphoses for his Gigantomachy in the Palazzo del Te. The subject was very popular in the fine arts of the Cinquecento, once for sure because of its inherent possibilities for effective aesthetic design, on the other hand because this myth was important for the self-image of a patron of that time expressing religious, moral, political ideas.
The Rape of Ganymede is a painting by Damiano Mazza in the National Gallery, London. The artist's best-known painting, it depicts the legendary account of an eagle kidnapping the handsome Ganymede and taking him to Mount Olympus to serve both as Jupiter's lover and as cupbearer to the gods.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| External videos | |
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 Correggio's Jupiter and Io, Smarthistory at Khan Academy |