Jupiter and Antiope: The Larger Plate
Medium
Etching, drypoint, and burin on off-white laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet trimmed to platemark: 14 × 20.6 cm (5 9/16 × 8 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
62569
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Slightly later than Rembrandt’s al fresco courtship scenes of the 1640s, this mythological outdoor work depicts one of the god Jupiter’s many mortal conquests. Jupiter appears disguised as a horned and wreathed satyr who comes upon the nymph Antiope slumbering in the nude in a woodland glade. Antiope remains asleep as he delicately peels away her covering sheet and examines her body appreciatively. The relationship between the perspective of the viewer and of the figures is close; we seem nearly...
About the Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn · 1606–1669
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) stands as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Born in Leiden to a prosperous miller's family, Rembrandt transformed painting through his revolutionary use of light and shadow, his psychological depth in portraiture, and his elevation of etching to a fine art. His approx...