03 — ARTWORK
Danaë with a Nurse
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas, 129 x 180 cm
- TYPE
- Mythological
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1400 × 1001 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Between 1553 and 1554 Titian executed for the Habsburgs two "mythological fables" of clearly erotic intent, the Danaë and the Venus and Adonis, both now in the Prado, Madrid.
The Danaë is really a variation on a canvasA woven cloth used as a support for painting. The best-quality canvas is made of linen; other materials used are cotton, hemp, and jute. It is now so familiar a material that the word 'canvas' has become almost a synonym for an oil painting, but it was not until around 1500 that it began to rival the wooden panel (which was more expensive and took longer to prepare) as the standard support for movable paintings (the transition came later in Northern Europe than in Italy). Canvas is not suitable for painting on until it has been coated with a ground, which isolates the fabric from the paint; otherwise it will absorb too much paint, only very rough effects will be obtainable, and parts of the fabric may be rotted by the pigments. It must also be made taut on a stretcher or by some other means. painted ten years earlier for the Farnese family. With greater fidelity to Ovid's text, the Cupid has now been replaced by the elderly nurse who attempts to use her apron to gather the shower of gold into which Jupiter had transformed himself in order to possess the young woman.
Danaë is frequently represented in Renaissance and BaroqueThe period in art history from about 1600 to about 1750. In this sense the term covers a wide range of styles and artists. In painting and sculpture there were three main forms of Baroque: (1) sumptuous display, a style associated with the Catholic Counter Reformation and the absolutist courts of Europe (Bernini, Rubens); (2) dramatic realism (Caravaggio); and (3) everyday realism, a development seen in particular in Holland (Rembrandt, Vermeer). In architecture, there was an emphasis on expressiveness and grandeur, achieved through scale, the dramatic use of light and shadow, and increasingly elaborate decoration. In a more limited sense the term Baroque often refers to the first of these categories. The development of the Baroque reflects the period's religious tensions (Catholic versus Protestant); a new and more expansive world view based on science and exploration; and the growth of absolutist monarchies. painting. You can view <A onclick="return OpenOther('/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=danae&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Depictions+of+Danaë')" HREF="/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=danae&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Depictions+of+Danaë">other depictions</A> of Danaë in the Web Galleryan upper story, similar to a tribune, running along the side of a building and open on one side to the interior; in a church (basilica) above the side aisles, over the ambulatory (central-plan building) and also over the west end. The gallery was used to keep certain groups of worshippers apart (women, noblemen). of Art. <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, 5 minutes):<BR><A HREF="#" onClick="w=window.open ('/music1/20_cent/strauss_danae.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350');w.opener=this;w.focus();return true"><B>Richard Strauss: Danaë's Love, Danaë's monologue</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE>
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r02aa8e1d4c63b8,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Danaë with a Nurse by TIZIANO Vecellio},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/tiziano-vecellio-rf16f53052a933d/dana-with-a-nurse-r02aa8e1d4c63b8},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
