It's an art post! Remember these? You probably won't as I've not done one for a long while. The more I have to write about them for uni the less I want to write an art blog post. I thought I did a post on a Danaë painting but I was mistaken. There's a Danaë in the series I'm writing about for my dissertation which I did a little post about.
Source: Web Gallery of Art
The painting depicts a mythological subject. In the Greek myth Danaë's father Acrisius asks an oracle if he will ever have any males heirs, the oracle tells him that he would be killed by his daughters' son. Acrisius then locks Danaë in a tower but Zeus arrives in the form of a golden shower and impregnates her, Perseus was a result and ended up killing his grandfather.
The scene depicted shows the moment Zeus impregnates her. Rembrandt first painted it in 1636 and later came back to it in 1643 and re-painted Danaë and the old nurse in a different style.
A number of things have happened to this painting; it was cut down on all sides and in 1985 it was attacked with acid. It was badly damaged with most of it being Danaë's body. The painting is currently at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The painting is different to other depictions of the myth with the golden shower not being shown. Danaë however is bathed in a gold light showing the impregnation. I had to give a five minute spiel about this painting in front of my fellow classmates and my lecturer who just happens to be an expert on Rembrandt, no pressure.
A lot of Rembrandt's paintings are spread out across the world and would be impossible to bring them together in an exhibition. The Rembrandt Remastered exhibition is great as this is pretty much the only time you'll see a lot of them displayed together. It's also the only time you'll see paintings such as the Storm on the Sea of Galilee which was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.
The paintings are digitally remastered and they show so much detail such as the brushstrokes and you can get up close to get a better look.
The Danaë is included in the exhibition and is one of my favourites.
Rembrandt Remastered is at Smith and Caughey's on the 6th floor and is open everyday till September 13. Tickets are $15 on weekdays and $20 on weekends.
Hope you all enjoyed this post! xx
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