Jupiter Europam Rapit. Per Gerardum de Lairesse inv. et sculp. et per Nicolaum Visscher edit. cum Privil. Ord. Gen. Belgii Foederati.
[n.d., c.1770s.]
Etching, sheet 240 x 295mm. 9½ x 11¾". Trimmed to plate.
The rape of Europa, with Jupiter as a bull bearing her off across the water; Europa who sits on his back, her hand in the air, accompanied by two erotes. In a circular frame. Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. A myth tells of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull. Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the late 9th or to the 8th century BC. After Gérard de Lairesse (1641 - 1711)
[Ref: 22281] £230.00
Etching, sheet 240 x 295mm. 9½ x 11¾". Trimmed to plate.
The rape of Europa, with Jupiter as a bull bearing her off across the water; Europa who sits on his back, her hand in the air, accompanied by two erotes. In a circular frame. Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. A myth tells of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull. Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the late 9th or to the 8th century BC. After Gérard de Lairesse (1641 - 1711)
[Ref: 22281] £230.00