Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Semele.
The gallery
Jupiter and Semele
Gustave Moreau, 1889–1895
Moreau's Symbolist altarpiece in the Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris: Zeus unveils himself in a blaze of jewels and thrones while Semele dies of the sight — the Theban princess consumed by the god she asked to see entire.
Jupiter and Semele
Jacopo Tintoretto, c. 1545
An early Venetian canvas attributed to Tintoretto: Jupiter descends upon Semele in a rush of cloud and flesh — the mortal love that will end in fire and the birth of Dionysus.
The Death of Semele
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1640
Rubens stages the fatal revelation: Jupiter's thunderbolts fill the chamber as Semele collapses — Hera's cruel counsel fulfilled, and Dionysus still to be rescued from the ashes.
Jupiter and Semele
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1636–1637
A Torre de la Parada oil sketch by Rubens for Philip IV: Jupiter arrives in splendour before the Theban princess — the same myth Moreau would later jewel into Symbolist ecstasy.