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Peter Paul Rubens
Pallas and Arachne, 1636-37
Peter Paul Rubens was famous as a painter, a leading intellectual, and a diplomat in the Southern Netherlands where he was born and throughout Europe, especially Catholic south. In the later 1630s, Philip IV of Spain commissioned Rubens to decorate his hunting lodge, the Torre de la Parada. As seen in this oil sketch be made to prepare for that commission, Rubens's designs for the large-scale paintings show his quick imagination and bold style -- a few swift brushstrokes and touches of color and light sketch out entire compositions.
As told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, the Arachne boasted that she was a better weaver than the goddess Pallas Athena, who counted the art of weaving among her many achievements. When Athena challenged her to a contest, Arachne wove a flawless tapestry that depicted Zeus turning into a bull and abducting Europa, a story that illustrates how the gods deceive mortals. Athena fell upon Arachne in a fury, beating her so mercilessly that Arachne hanged herself in despair. Afterward, Athena turned Arachne into a spider so she could still weave, Rubens represents the most violent moment of the story, vividly and convincingly emphasizing both the goddess's rage and the moral's terror. |