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| Atalanta and Meleager |
Artist:Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
Date:ca. 1616
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:52 1/2 x 42 in. (133.4 x 106.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1944
This magnificent picture illustrates a story from the Metamorphoses of Ovid (completed 8 A.D.). Meleager has killed the wild boar that ravaged the countryside and presents its head to the virgin Atalanta, with whom he has fallen in love. In the background is a Fury—a reference to the subsequent events leading up to Meleager's death. Although a splendid example of Rubens's work around 1615–17, the picture is not in uniformly good condition. Parts are abraded and the drapery over the right shoulder of Meleager has been reconstructed on the basis of a workshop copy in the Gemäldegalerie, Kassel. The splendid French Régence frame dates to about 1720.
Provenance
the Dukes of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (by 1777–1883; cat., 1861, p. 24); George Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace (1883–86; his sale, Christie's, London, July 24 and 26, 1886, no. 61, for 520 gns., to Cavendish-Bentinck); Hon. George Augustus Frederick Cavendish–Bentinck, London and Brownsea Island (1886); [Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1886–at least 1887]; Rodolphe Kann, Paris (by 1892–d. 1905; his estate, 1905–7; cat., 1907, vol. 1, no. 23; sold to Duveen); [Duveen, Paris and New York, 1907–15; sold for $24,129 to Kleinberger]; [Kleinberger, New York, 1915–22; sold for $25,000 to Goldman]; Henry Goldman, New York (1922–d. 1937; cat., 1922, no. 11); his widow, Mrs. Henry Goldman, New York (1937–at least 1939); [Duveen, New York, until 1944; sold to MMA]
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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