Damiano Mazza, 'The Rape of Ganymede', about 1575

The Rape of Ganymede

Damiano Mazza

Not on display

About the work

Overview

A black eagle soars into the clouds with a naked youth clutched in its talons. In Greek mythology, Jupiter was infatuated with the handsome youth Ganymede, whom he abducted in the guise of an eagle and carried away to the home of the gods, Mount Olympus, where he was made their cupbearer.

The sole of the boy’s right foot is lit from below and his scarf floats beneath the bird’s powerful beating wings, creating the impression that the scene is taking place high up in the air. Mazza may have used suspended figures made of wood, clay and wax to work out the poses for his paintings, a technique he may have learnt from his presumed master, Titian.

The painting was originally shaped as an irregular octagon, but canvas was added in the early eighteenth century to make it up to a rectangle. At that time, Prussian blue was painted over the discoloured grey smalt pigment in the sky.

In-depth

A huge black eagle soars into the clouds with a naked youth clutched in its talons. The boy, grasping his bow and the eagle’s black feathers, struggles to escape. The painting illustrates the rape of Ganymede. In Greek mythology, the beautiful shepherd boy Ganymede was carried away by Jupiter in the form of an eagle to the home of the gods on Mount Olympus and made their cupbearer. The sole of the boy’s right foot is lit from below and his scarf floats below the powerful beating wings of the bird, creating the impression that the scene is taking place high up in the air.

The Rape of Ganymede was painted for Francesco Assonica, a lawyer from Bergamo, who worked in Padua and Venice and acted for Titian in 1550 and 1566. Although it has been assumed that the picture reflects the sexual orientation of its patron, this is unlikely. The rape of Ganymede was a popular subject for ceiling paintings, interpreted as an example of divine favour, and was often paired with the fall of Phaeton – an example of Jupiter’s wrath – as both scenes take place in the air. The picture was probably painted to decorate ceiling of the belvedere (open-sided rooftop terrace) of Assonica’s house in Padua. Titian may have recommended the Paduan Mazza, who is described in seventeenth-century sources as his pupil.

The painting was originally shaped as an irregular octagon, but canvas was added in the early eighteenth century to make it into a rectangle. Mazza’s composition is one of many experiments made by Venetian artists to emulate Giulio Romano’s daring ceiling painting of the Fall of Phaeton of 1527–8 in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, in which Phaeton and his chariot tumble from the cloudy heavens.

The blue smalt – a pigment that consists of ground cobalt blue glass – in the sky of Mazza’s picture has discoloured to a warm grey. Prussian blue, a pigment that first came into use in the eighteenth century, has been painted on top of it.

The impact of Mazza’s painting has been reduced by its conversion from a ceiling octagon to a rectangular gallery picture. Originally, the wings would have been cut by the frame, and the boy’s left foot and the bird’s beak would have only just been contained by it. This would have greatly enhanced the drama of the composition.

Titian used suspended models made of wood, clay and wax to work out the foreshortened poses for his paintings. Mazza also adopted this practice and, unusually, the bronze figure he used here has survived (Barthélemy Prieur, Statue of Cupid, about 1560, Bronze, Private collection).

From 1664 to 1887 the painting was catalogued as by Titian. After that, it was recognised as by Mazza but still thought to be a copy of an original painting by Titian. The picture was painted quickly and there are lots of areas of over-painting where the artist changed his mind. This makes it very unlikely to be a copy of another picture, as Mazza was clearly making adjustments to the composition as he painted.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Rape of Ganymede
Artist: Damiano Mazza
Artist dates: active 1573
Date made: about 1575
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 177.2 × 188.7 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1824
Inventory number: NG32
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: John Julius Angerstein

Alexander Day

Provenance

Almost certainly the painting commissioned for the belvedere of the Casa Assonica, Padua, whence it had apparently been removed by 1648. Acquired in that year, or soon after, by Duke Jacopo Salviati and recorded in his Roman palace by 1664. By descent to Caterina Salviati, who married Prince Fabrizio Colonna in 1717, and legally accepted as part of her dowry in 1732. Sold by her grandson Prince Filippo II Colonna in 1798 to, or through, Giovanni de’ Rossi. With Alexander Day and his associates by 1800 and sold by Day in May 1801 to John Julius Angerstein. After Angerstein’s death, together with most of his collection, NG 32 was purchased from his executors for the National Gallery in 1824.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 2, ‘Venice 1540–1600’, London 2008; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2018

Ovidio, Amori, Miti e altre storie

Scuderie del Quirinale

16 October 2018 - 20 January 2019
2023

Masterpieces from the National Gallery

Shanghai Art Museum East

17 January 2023 - 7 May 2023

National Museum of Korea

2 June 2023 - 9 October 2023

Hong Kong Palace Museum

22 November 2023 - 11 April 2024

Chimei Museum

2 May 2024 - 1 September 2024

Bibliography

1787

F.W.B. von Ramdohr, Über Mahlerei und Bildhauerarbeit in Rom für Liebhaber des Schönen in der Kunst, Leipzig 1787
1823

J. Young, A Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures of the Late John Julius Angerstein, Esq: Containing a Finished Etching of Every Picture, and Accompanied with Historical and Biographical Notices, London 1823
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1854

R.N. Wornum and C.L. Eastlake, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, with Biographical Notices of the Painters, London 1854
1877

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, Titian: His Life and Times, London 1877
1887

F.W. Burton, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1887
1903

J.B.S. Holborn, Jacopo Robusti Called Tintoretto, London 1903
1905

J. de Wolf Addison, The Art of the National Gallery: A Critical Survey of the Schools and Painters as Represented in the British Collection, London 1905
1913

D. Hadeln, 'Damiano Mazza', Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, XXIV, 1913, pp. 249-54
1914

C. Ridolfi, Le maraviglie dell'arte, 1648, ed. D. von Hadeln, Berlin 1914
1924

W.G. Constable, 'The Foundation of the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XLIV/253, 1924, pp. 158-72
1945

E. Tietze-Conrat, 'The Wemyss "Allegory" in the Art Institute of Chicago', Art Bulletin, XXVII/4, 1945, pp. 269-71
1959

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School, London 1959
1969

H.E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian: The Religious Paintings, 3 vols, London 1969
1975

C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
1976

G.P. Bellori, Nota delli musei, librerie, galerie, et ornamenti di statue e pitture ne' palazzi, nelle case, e ne' giardini di Roma, 1664, ed. E. Zocca, Rome 1976
1977

M. Russell, 'The Iconography of Rembrandt's Rape of Ganymede', Simiolus, IX/1, 1977, pp. 5-18
1979

I.M. Silos, Pinacotheca, sive Romana pictura et sculptura, 1673, ed. M.B. Bonsante, Treviso 1979
1980

F. Heinemann, 'La bottega de Tiziano', in Tiziano e Venezia: Convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, 1976, Vicenza 1980, pp. 433-40
1987

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
1994

M.P. Worley, 'The Image of Ganymede in France, 1730-1820: The Survival of a Homoerotic Myth', Art Bulletin, LXXVI/4, 1994, pp. 630-43
1996

W.R. Rearick, 'Titian's Later Mythologies', Artibus et historiae, XVII/33, 1996, pp. 23-67
2000

P. Costamagna, 'La collection de peintures d'une famille florentine établie à Rome: L'Inventaire après décès du duc Anton Maria Salviati dressé en 1704', Nuovi studi, V/8, 2000, pp. 177-233
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

A. Hollander, Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 19 June - 8 September 2002), London 2002
2006

E.M. Pozzolo, 'La "bottega" di Tiziano: Sistema solare e buco nero', Studi tizianeschi, IV, 2006, pp. 53-98
2008

Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 2, Venice, 1540-1600, London 2008

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.