Danaë by Correggio at the Galleria Borghese

Picture obtained from www.galleriaborghese.it 

The painting, Danaë, by Correggio is located in the Borghese Gallery.  The painting was created around 1531, is about 1.6 meters by 1.9 meters, and is oil on canvas. 

The painting references a mythological story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses about the Roman god Jupiter and the mortal princess Danaë.  King Acrisius of Argos hears an oracle that says his daughter, Danaë, will bear a child that will one day kill him.  King Acrisius, wanting to avoid this, decides to lock his daughter into a bronze tower of his palace (sometimes the story is told with her being locked in the basement) to keep her from having children.  However, Zeus falls in love with her and in order to lay with her while she is in the tower, he transforms himself into a golden cloud and rains down upon her golden raindrops.  This episode leads to Danaë becoming pregnant and giving birth to a demigod named Perseus.  Afraid her father will rid of her son, she hides him for four years.  However, the boy is discovered after Acrisius hears him playing, and he put Danaë and the child into a chest and throws them into the sea.  Upon request by Zeus, Poseidon carries the chest safely ashore to the island of Seriphos where they are discovered by a fisherman named Dictys who raises Perseus to manhood.

The painting depicts the moment in the myth where Zeus comes down upon Danaë as a golden shower.  In some versions of the myth, Cupid is sent down by Zeus to prepare Danaë and her bed for the arrival of Zeus.  

This painting, along with three others, were commissioned in 1530 by Federico II who wished to give them as a gift to Emperor Charles V when he came to Bologna in 1530 for his coronation.  Danaë and the three other paintings were part of a series of the loves of Jupiter.  The other three included Io, Ganymede, and Leda.  It is believed, however, that Danaë was not completed in time for the emperor’s visit as the painting inscription says the painting was completed in 1531. 

Written by: Adri Fernandez