Apollo and Aurora
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
80 1/2 x 76 1/8 in. (204.5 x 193.4 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Manuel E. and Ellen G. Rionda, 1943
Accession Number
43.118
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the majestic *Apollo and Aurora* (1671), a monumental oil on canvas by Dutch artist Gerard de Lairesse, measuring over six feet tall. This grand history painting captures a mythological moment from classical lore: the sun god Apollo,plendent in his chariot drawn by fiery horses, shares the dawn skies with Aurora, the rosy-fingered goddess of morning. Swirling clouds and dynamic figures evoke the celestial drama of light piercing the heavens, a theme drawn from Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. Lairesse, a leading figure in late 17th-century Dutch classicism, drew inspiration from Rubens and the ...
About the Artist
Gerard de Lairesse · 1641–1711
Gerard de Lairesse (1641–1711) was a leading figure of the Dutch Golden Age, renowned as both a painter and art theorist whose classical ideals bridged the dramatic realism of Rembrandt with the refined elegance of French academism. Born on September 11, 1641, in Liège, he was the second son of the painter Renier de Lairesse (1597–1667). De Lairesse received his initial training under his father b...