The Rape of Europa

The theme represented by de Vos in this painting was related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. The god Jupiter, in love with Europa, daughter of the Phoenician King Agenor, turned into a bull to abduct her and take her to Crete, where he possessed her. The young girl can be seen in the background, before the abduction, playing on the shore with her companions while Mercury glides in the sky surrounded by cupids, one of whom holds Jupiter’s rays in his hands.

Martin de Vos, having attained the full maturity of his style, was inspired by a composition painted by Titian between 1559 and 1562. The painter reveals his skill in the execution of grounds and of anecdotal details, in the purest Flemish tradition, and in the portrayal of the female nude. This figure is impeccably rendered in sfumato, and the light seems to emerge from the flesh through soft transparencies. The yellow robe and the undulating red cloth grant the composition its colour and movement. This work shows a perfect synthesis of Italian taste and the painter’s refined Flemish training.