Artwork
Orpheus leads Eurydice from Hades (Ovid, Metamorphoses, X, 1-39)
Orpheus leads Eurydice from Hades (Ovid, Metamorphoses, X, 1-39) is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Peter Paul Rubens. It dates from 1637 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
About this work
Overview
This 1637 oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens illustrates a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses, depicting Orpheus guiding Eurydice from the underworld.
Subject & Meaning
The painting shows Orpheus, a bearded man with a staff, and Eurydice, a naked woman with a loose cloth, emerging from a dark, stone-walled space, watched by a kneeling figure, likely representing Hades or a denizen of the underworld.
Technique & Style
Rubens employed chiaroscuro, a technique using strong contrasts between light and dark, to create a dramatic atmosphere, characteristic of the Flemish Baroque style and the Counter-Reformation's aesthetic.
History & Provenance
The painting is now part of the Kunsthaus Zürich collection.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ROO-bənz; Dutch: ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat.
Orpheus und Eurydike vor Pluto und Proserpina
Susanna and the Elders
Kain und Abel (?)
Venus und Adonis (zugeschrieben)
Meleager and Atalanta
Jael und Sisera (vermutlich)
Die keusche Susanna
Briseis Returning to Achilles
Hunting Party with Diana
Triumph of the Lord's Supper over the bloody sacrifice of paganism
Römischer Triumphzug: Gefangene Männer und Frauen
Orpheus and Eurydice