# Atalanta and Hippomenes [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RENI, Guido]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 206 x 297 cm ## Commentary Atalanta and Hippomenes c. 1612 Oil on canvas, 206 x 297 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid In the Boeotian version of the legend, followed by Ovid \(Met. 10:560-707\), Atalanta was an athletic huntress. Her way with her suitors was to challenge them to a race in which the loser was punished with death. She remained unbeaten and a virgin until Hippomenes \(elsewhere named Melanion\) took her on. As they ran he dropped three golden apples, given to him by Venus, and since Atalanta could not resist stopping to pick them up she lost the race. They later made love in a temple of Cybele, which offended the goddess so much that she turned them both into lions. In the picture Atalanta is shown in the act of stooping to pick up an apple as Hippomenes overtakes her. There are two versions of this paining, one in Naples and another in Madrid, and recently there have been heated debates about both their autography and dating. While most scholars recognize the Madrid canvas as an autograph work, there have been serious reservations about the Neapolitan canvas, deemed it a workshop copy. <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="\#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 12 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/18\_cent/handel\_atalanta.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>George Frideric Handel: Atalanta, Act 3 \(excerpts\)</b></a> </td></tr></table> ## Related artworks - [Adam]() - [Angel of the Annunciation]() - [Annunciation to Joachim]() - [Atalanta and Hippomenes]() - [Aurora]() - [Aurora]() - [Baptism of Christ]() - [Birth of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Birth of the Virgin]() - [Cleopatra]() - [Cleopatra with the Asp]() - [Crucifixion of St Peter]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()