Danaë (after Titian)
Timothy Collopy (fl. Limerick 1771 - c. 1810)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1772 - circa 1773
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1219 x 1727 mm (48 x 68 in)
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872165
Caption
According to Greek mythology, Danaë’s father, Acrisius, king of Argos was told he would be killed by his daughter’s son, so he locked her in a tower. As told in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Jupiter comes to her, disguised as a shower of gold. Their son, Perseus did accidentally kill his grand-father with a discus. This is a copy of Titian’s version in the Museo de Capodimonte, Naples of 1545 with an attendant putto in place of an old woman catching the coins in her apron in the painting now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The copyist later became a restorer and cleaned the pictures at Saltram in 1795.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Danaë (after Titian) by Timothy Collopy (fl. Limerick 1771 - c. 1810), 1772-73 after the original, 1545, now in the Museo de Capodimonte, Naples by Titian (Pieve di Cadore 1488/90 - Venice 1576). According to mythology Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos, was imprisoned in a tower by her father because of a prophecy that her son would kill him. In the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses he tells of the God Jupiter coming to her as a shower of gold. Their offspring was Perseus, who indeed accidentally killed his grandfather with a discus
Credit line
Saltram, The Morley Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Timothy Collopy (fl. Limerick 1771 - c. 1810), artist after Titian (Pieve di Cadore 1488/90 - Venice 1576), artist