Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Danae.
The gallery
Danaë
Rembrandt, 1636
Rembrandt's Hermitage Danaë waits in a shadowed bed as Zeus' golden light pours toward her — the Argive princess as intimate Baroque drama of desire and captivity. Oil on canvas, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
Danaë
Gustav Klimt, 1907
Klimt curls Danaë into a gold-patterned coil as Zeus arrives as a shower of coin-like rain — the bronze tower myth restaged as Symbolist erotic ornament. Oil on canvas, Leopold Museum, Vienna.
Danaë
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1612
Artemisia paints Danaë and a servant receiving the golden rain — Zeus' visit as a charged exchange of light, flesh, and watchfulness. Oil on canvas, Saint Louis Art Museum.
Danaë
Antonio da Correggio, c. 1530
Correggio's Borghese Danaë reclines as Eros and putti manage the golden shower — soft High Renaissance flesh for the impregnation that will father Perseus. Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Danaë
Titian, c. 1560
Titian's Prado Danaë receives Zeus as a rain of gold while a maid gathers coins — the Argive confinement turned into Venetian sensual theatre. Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.