''Danaë'' is a ''circa'' 1623

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

painting by the Italian artist

Orazio Gentileschi Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists. After ...

. It is an example of an

Italian Baroque Italian Baroque (or ''Barocco'') is a stylistic period in Italian history and art that spanned from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. History The early 17th century marked a time of change for those of the Roman Catholic religion ...

painting and is now in the collection of the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

History and description

The painting was commissioned in 1621 by

Giovanni Antonio Sauli Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

who had invited Gentileschi to Genoa. Gentileschi painted a number of works for Sauli besides the ''Danäe'', including a ''Penitent Magdalen'' and a '' Lot and his Daughters''. The painting draws together the Caravaggesque naturalism that influenced Gentileschi's earlier work with the Tuscan lyricism he later developed. Artemisia Gentileschi - Danaë

The subject of the painting is the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

myth of

Danaë In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age. Family Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acri ...

, which tells of how

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

, king of the gods, visited

in a shower of gold, from which union Perseus was born. The myth is regarded as a forerunner of the Christian belief in the Annunciation, the divine conception of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Orazio's daughter Artemisia Gentileschi had portrayed Danaë earlier. The painting was auctioned at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

New York on 28 January 2016. It was the most important Baroque painting to be offered for sale in decades, and purchased for US$30,500,000 by the Getty. It is to be hung alongside Gentileschi's ''Lot and his Daughters''. The arrival of Zeus is foretold by Eros, who pulls aside a dark green curtain to let the golden rain fall. Gentileschi manages to blend the movement and dynamism of gold coins and falling ribbons with the serenity of Danae's sculptural physicality and classic charm. Danae is lying on her bed waiting for her, on a white mattress over which lies a golden blanket. Although the figure is quite sensual (the woman is covered only by a transparent veil in the pubic area), Orazio Gentileschi painted her with such grace and moderation as not to make the scene descend into the vulgar: Danae remains a chaste figure who accepts her ineluctable fate. It is a completely different Danae from the consenting one painted by Titian, today in the Capodimonte museum in Naples, which Orazio may have seen in Rome, when it was exhibited in Palazzo Farnese. The painting knows how to combine the Caravaggesque naturalism that influenced Gentileschi's previous works with the Tuscan lyricism that he later developed.

Provenance

* Commissioned in 1621 by Giovanni Antonio Sauli, Genoa; * By descent and inheritance in the family; * Thomas P. Grange, London, by 1975; * By whom sold in 1977 to Richard L. Feigen; * By whom sold on 2 October 1998 to a family trust, the present consignor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danae 1623 paintings Gentileschi Nude art Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum Paintings by Orazio Gentileschi

History and description

Provenance

See also

References