The Rape of Ganymede
by CARPI, Girolamo da, Oil on canvas, 81 x 145 cm
This painting comes from the apartments of Duke Ercole II in the Palazzo del Corte in Ferrara. In 1543-44 Girolamo da Carpi collaborated with Battista Dossi in paintings decorated the apartments. The Ganymede was intended to hang above a window or door like Battista Dossi’s Times of the Day paintings.
Girolamo portrays Ganymede as a beautiful, nude adolescent, who clutches a glass ewer as a symbol of future role as cupbearer to the gods, as Jupiter in the form of an eagle carries him through the sky to Mount Olympus. Girolamo’s figure reflects the inspiration of Parmigianino in its elongated refinement, and in the fluent calligraphic rhythms of the hair and draperies.