Andromeda and Perseus: myths of ancient Greece. "Perseus and Andromeda" - a picture of Rubens

The darling of fate, a man generously endowed with everything that nature can give, that's who Rubens is. Peter Paul was versatile gifted, had a beautiful appearance, a talent to grasp everything on the fly, a tenacious memory that allowed him to be one of the most educated people of his time. He possessed 6 languages, he was perfectly oriented in music, poetry and other kinds of art, he possessed the talent of a brilliant diplomat. In addition, he was extremely lucky.

But the greatest glory in time and space Rubens provided the genius of an unrivaled artist.

Titanium

Wizard, "the king of artists, the artist of kings" - what epithets did not reward the contemporaries of this talented and surprisingly prolific genius of the Baroque era. Interesting and tempting made the dull era of the reign of Duke Alba an amazing master of painting Rubens, whose paintings adorn all the museums of the world.

He was magnificent in all genres - portrait, historical and religious canvases, landscape, canvases on mythological subjects - everything was subject to him, in all he reached the top.

Amazing Fertility

The artist left to his descendants thousands of paintings he signed, which indicates his ability to work and the number of talented students. Many paintings in all genres, including those written for famous stories from the "Myths and Legends" of Ancient Greece and Rome. He wrote Prometheus and the Amazons, drunk Dionysus and Silenus, the stories of the abduction of Ganymede and the daughters of Leucippus, the Calydonian hunt and the head of Medusa and the feast of the Roman goddess of love - Venus. The artist knew the mythology perfectly. Very many plots captured Rubens, whose paintings are the best illustrations to the ancient fairy tales of the Mediterranean.

The fullness of the heroes of Rubens

True, the heroes of the painter's paintings, which thrive with health, sometimes differ from slender young men and girls depicted on ancient amphorae, and the concept of "beautiful" is inextricably linked with fatness. Here is the son of King Troy Ganymede, known for his extraordinary beauty, because of which Zeus stole him in the image of an eagle and made him his cupbearer, to always have before his eyes a fairy prince, on the canvas Rubens more like a fat overgrown, frightened to blue. In the great Flemish, as a rule, several works are devoted to one plot. On one of them the legendary son of Troy is not bad at all, but the eagle on all canvases is simply magnificent. So the beauty of Perseus in the picture is somewhat peculiar. But this, of course, is a private opinion. Apparently, Rubens least wanted to draw "beauty."

One of the most famous ancient Greek heroes

The painting "Andromeda and Perseus" is a masterpiece of world painting. Her story is very popular. Perseus, who killed Medusa Gorgon, the most terrible and all-powerful of the three snake-headed daughters of the two sea gods, Forky and Keto, even people far from mythology know. The ability of a hero-killed Gorgon to turn to stone all living things, without exaggeration, is familiar to everyone. Speech about it came because right in the center of the picture carefully written off the severed head of the monster, attached to the surface of the mirror shield, presented to the hero Athena Pallada for the implementation of this particular feat - the murder of Medusa. In general, the Olympic gods very well equipped the great son of Danai, who gave birth to him from Zeus. The plot of the appearance of the hero to the light is also well known. Argosian king Akrisiy, having learned that he would perish at the hands of his grandson, hid his daughter Danai in the dungeon. But you can not hide from the thunderer - he leaked to the beloved in the form of a golden rain.

The whole world

So, on the canvas "Andromeda and Perseus" is very scrupulously depicted all the armor - gifts of the gods. True, the data differ, who gave something specifically, but the main version is as follows. The Hidden Hat was given by Hades. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, gave his winged sandals and pointed the hero to the road. The god of fire - blacksmith Hephaestus - gave a sharp crooked sword, since only this weapon could cut through the skin of Medusa, all covered with scales. The painting still depicts Pegasus, born from the body of the slain Medusa of the Gorgon. According to the plot of the myth, Perseus liberated Andromeda without the help of a winged horse. But the artist, as it were, characterizes the great hero, presenting to the viewer the evidence of his great deeds.

It must be said that the myth "Perseus and Andromeda" is very popular among writers, poets and artists, but it is Rubens' painting that immediately appears in front of the eyes at the mention of this pair.

The Essence of History

The plot of the picture is as follows. The great hero of Greece, the founder of Mycenae, the future center of Greek civilization, flew over the sea and saw a beautiful girl, chained to the rock, with an expression of horror on her face. Descending, Perseus found out that Andromeda, and it was she, the daughter of the Ethiopian arrogant queen Cassiopeia and King Cefei, ordered to sacrifice the sea monster sent by Poseidon to punish the girl's mother for her long tongue. Cassiopeia was very proud of the beauty of her daughter and claimed that she eclipsed the Nereids, the children of the sea god Nereus. The queen forgot that the Olympians are vindictive and do not tolerate the slightest competition. The terrible giant fish began to devastate the country on a regular basis. The Oracle said that the monster must be given to Andromeda, and the troubles will stop.

The son of Zeus hurries to the rescue

But Perseus decided otherwise, he cut the fetters with the Hephaestian sword and sent the girl ashore, after asking the beauties who were standing right there, whether they would give Andromeda to him as a wife if the monster was killed. Having received consent, he rushed to meet fate. The battle was terrible, the winged sandals were wet, the sword did not help, but the head of Medusa was rescued by Perseus. He showed it to the fish, and she petrified, turning into a coastal rock. The hero returned to the shore to the tapered. Andromeda and Perseus lived happily ever after. She bore him seven children: the beautiful Gorgofon and six sons, the eldest of whom was the Persian pioneer of the Persian people, and the younger Eldon - the father of Alkmena, the mother of Hercules. That is the greatest hero of ancient Greece is Perseus great-grandson. The role of Zeus in this whole story can not be said - he was the father of Perseus and Hercules.

"And now, beautiful girl, I want to marry you ..."

The description of the painting by Rubens can begin with an indication of the exact moment of this touching story - the winner returns to an embarrassed and happy lover who just so happily escaped death. In the picture there is everything - and solemnity of the moment (the goddess of victory Nika puts on the hero his helmet), and the joy of meeting the lovers over the head of the defeated monster. Funny angels symbolize the joy and gratitude of the Ethiopian people liberated from the misfortune, who, according to legend, dumped on the beach by a noisy crowd. You can talk endlessly about the palette of the artist, which shakes the audience of the XXI century, just like contemporaries. Hundreds of books are written about his skill and perfection of brush ownership, about his methods of applying paints to the canvas, life-loving, pouring from his canvases.

The top of creativity

"Andromeda and Perseus" - a brilliant canvas of the creator of the Baroque school, an exciting-bright, life-affirming style of artistic expression. Only great creators, and there are not so many of them, become the founders of some direction in art. Peter Paul Rubens perfectly mastered the power of plastic imagination, dynamic forms and rhythms. In his works the decorative beginning triumphed. All this together was the basis of his work. In his work "Perseus and Andromeda", Rubens showed that he reached the peaks that the three previous generations of the masters of his homeland of Flanders sought, namely the merging of the great classical tradition of masters of Ancient Greece and Rome, which the Renaissance revived, with the realism of the masters of the South-Netherlands (Flemish ) School of Painting.

Realism - the basis of creativity

1577 -1640 - years of life of a brilliant artist. His indisputable masterpiece "Perseus and Andromeda" Rubens wrote in 1620-1621, that is, being a mature master, with his recognizable at first glance manner of writing. And the realism of the great Flemish made the Greek myth sound in a new way. He brought the heroes closer to life. And Perseus is like a real man, able to protect his beloved and without winged sandals, and Andromeda does not look like an Ethiopian black princess, and the Flemish girl is a white-haired, with a bright blush, with beautiful blond hair that Rubens was so good at. About this his manner, which one author called "the riddle of wallers", successfully solved by the master. Means this is that "Perseus and Andromeda" is a picture in which Peter Paul applied a glaze. This is a technique that results in a deep iridescent color. This is due to the application of translucent paints of the same tone on the main color.

Lovely color scheme

In this picture, a great role was played by the contrast of the metal dark armor of the hero with the gentle naked body of the girl - she is defenseless, he can protect. Thus, the moment of the meeting of the heroes on the canvas of Rubens "Perseus and Andromeda" is captured. The description of the picture can be ended with words about the free confident manner of the letter of the great artist and the beautiful and rich palette of the canvas. Local contrasting spots, scattered over the picture - claret, blue, brown - combine in a common color flow. In it stands out and dominates the light pink-pearl body of the beauty. Poet John Richards has such lines, inspired by this picture: "... and the dark shell of his son Danai shades a sweet-snowy body ...". The best version of this immortal work is kept in the Hermitage.