Claude Lorrain
French, 1600-1682
The Rape of Europa
INV-4545
Claude Lorrain
French, 1600-16821634
The Rape of Europa
Claude Lorrain French, 1600-1682 →etchingprint
Date
1634
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 19.5 × 25.7 cm (7 11/16 × 10 1/8 in.); Plate: 19.9 × 26.4 cm (7 7/8 × 10 7/16 in.); Sheet: 22.4 × 27.1 cm (8 7/8 × 10 11/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Clarence Buckingham Collection
Claude Lorrain characteristically depicted sea harbors along shorelines and often used mythical figures to complete his classical landscapes. Derived from Ovid’s book Metamorphoses, The Rape of Europa illustrates Jupiter as a white bull, while the object of his desire, Europa, unsuspectingly rides on his back before being carried out to sea. Instead of portraying the typical scene of Europa’s abduction, Lorrain chose to depict her initial entrapment by Jupiter, in keeping with the artist’s arcadian and poetic nature.
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