DescriptionLovers- Giulio Romano - oil painting - 1520s - 1530s.jpg
English: Author: Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi), ca. 1499-1546
Title: Lovers
From the Hermitage:
"The viewer’s attention is drawn to the bed with its massive carved legs incorporating the face of a lustful satyr.... In the 1520s, the artist produced a variety of erotic compositions. Some of them served as prototypes for engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi that went into an anthology of sexual positions entitled I Modi supplemented by sonnets written by Pietro Aretino. It is probably within that Italian poet’s circle that we should look for the theme of this."
to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.
If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.
JPEG file comment
GIULIO ROMANO
(b. ca. 1499, Roma, d. 1546, Mantova)
The Lovers
c. 1525
Oil on panel, transferred to canvas, 163 x 337 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
This painting illustrates Giulio Romano's penchant for erotic subject matter. It may show the encounter between Zeus and Alcmene: the alarmed dog at the maidservant's feet points to a breach of marital fidelity. The bed's carved decoration of a satyr and nymph may allude to another of Zeus's amorous adventures, when he assumed the guise of a satyr to make love to the nymph Antiope.
Alcmene was the mother of Hercules and the wife of Amphitryon, but the night she conceived Hercules and his twin brother Iphicles, Alcmene mated with both Zeus, who had disguised himself as her husband, and Amphitryon. As a result, Zeus was Hercules's father, but Amphitryon was the father of Iphicles.
--- Keywords: --------------
Author: GIULIO ROMANO
Title: The Lovers
Time-line: 1501-1550
School: Italian
Form: painting