The Rape of Europa
1751 to 1775
Medium
etching on chine collé
Dimensions
plate: 13.2 x 18.6 cm (5 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.) sheet: 18 x 17.8 cm (7 1/16 x 7 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Frank Anderson Trapp
Accession Number
2004.128.35
Art Historical Context
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, a leading French artist of the late 18th century known for his elegant Neoclassical style blending idealism with subtle emotional depth, created *The Rape of Europa* 1751 and 1775. This etching captures the dramatic myth from Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, where Zeus disguised as a bull,ducts the Phoenician princess Europa across the sea—a timeless tale of divine passion and transformation that captivated artists from Titian to Rembrandt. Rendered as an etching on chine collé refined technique where delicate Chinese paper is glued to a sturdier support for exceptional detail an...
About the Artist
Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Pierre Paul Prud'hon (1758–1823) was a French painter and draughtsman whose dreamy, sensuous art occupied a singular position between the Neoclassicism and Romanticism that competed for dominance in French painting around 1800. Born in Cluny in Burgundy, he received his early artistic training at the Dijon Academy before winning the Prix de Rome of the Estates of Burgundy, which allowed him to spe...