Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Aegina.
The gallery
Aegina Visited by Jupiter
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1767–1769
In this large Rococo-Neoclassical canvas, the French painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805) renders the moment the nymph Aegina, daughter of the river-god Asopus, is approached by Jupiter (Zeus), who descends to her disguised in the form of a flame or eagle. Aegina reclines in languid, luminous nudity, her body bathed in warm light against shadowed drapery, while the god manifests as a radiant celestial presence above her. The union depicted here will produce Aeacus, the future king of the island that bears her name and grandfather of Achilles. Oil on canvas, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Aegina Waiting for the Arrival of Zeus
Ferdinand Bol, c. 1650
A Dutch Golden Age painting by Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680), a pupil of Rembrandt whose influence shows in the rich chiaroscuro and golden light enveloping the figure. The nymph Aegina is shown in a moment of anticipation, awaiting the god Zeus, who in this telling approaches her in the guise of an eagle. The warm, theatrical lighting isolates her against a dark ground, lending the mythological encounter an air of intimate suspense before the abduction that will carry her from her father Asopus to the island later named for her. Oil on canvas, Meininger Museen, Meiningen.
Pyxis with Zeus and Aigina (Attic red-figure)
Unknown (Attic vase painter), c. 470–460 BCE
An Attic red-figure pyxis (a lidded cosmetic box) showing the abduction of Aigina, one of the daughters of the river-god Asopus, by Zeus. The vase painter captures the pursuit in motion, with the god seizing the fleeing nymph; the reverse of the vessel depicts her father Asopus and her sisters reacting to the loss. The composition belongs to the classic Greek iconographic type of divine pursuit and abduction. Dating to the early Classical period, the pyxis is held in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (GR.10.1934).
Jupiter and Aegina (from Jupiter's Love Adventures)
Cornelis Bos, 16th century
A Renaissance engraving by the Netherlandish printmaker Cornelis Bos, part of a series illustrating the amorous adventures of Jupiter. The print stages the god's seduction of the nymph Aegina within an ornate Mannerist composition, translating Ovidian and Apollodoran myth into the sophisticated print culture of sixteenth-century Northern Europe. Such series circulated the loves of Jupiter as a learned and decorative theme; this sheet is preserved in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-P-BI-2783).