Artwork
Epimetheus Opening Pandora's Box
Epimetheus Opening Pandora's Box is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Anton Tischbein. It dates from 1771 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Overview
Anton Tischbein’s 1771 oil painting, *Epimetheus Opening Pandora’s Box*, belongs to the Rococo period and is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst’s collection. The composition presents a kneeling male figure reaching toward a seated woman who holds an open box on her lap, set against a dimly lit interior with draped curtains, a vase of flowers and a wall mirror.
Subject & Meaning
The work visualizes the moment from Greek myth when Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, encounters Pandora’s opened container. The contrast between the man’s tense, inquisitive posture and the woman’s serene demeanor suggests the tension between curiosity and the inevitable release of the evils traditionally associated with the box.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas, the painting displays the Rococo’s characteristic lightness and decorative detail. Soft, pastel tones illuminate the figures, while the surrounding furnishings are rendered with delicate brushwork that emphasizes texture—silken drapery, polished mirror, and the subtle sheen of the bouquet.
History & Provenance
Created by Anton Tischbein, a member of the prolific Tischbein artistic dynasty, the piece entered the Danish national collection in the early twentieth century. It has remained in the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it is displayed as part of the museum’s holdings of 18th‑century European art.
Context
Rococo art often favored mythological subjects rendered with elegance and a sense of playful narrative. Tischbein’s choice of the Pandora episode aligns with contemporary tastes for allegorical scenes that combined moral instruction with the era’s penchant for ornamental composition.
Artist & collection
Artist
Anton Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the Hanauer Tischbein (1 March 1730, Haina - 1 November 1804, Hanau) was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists.
