Titian - The rape of Europa

• Title: The rape of Europa
• Artist: Titian (c.1489-1576)
• Date: 1562
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 178 x 205 cm

Titian’s “Rape of Europa” shows Zeus, transformed into a white bull, swimming away to the island of Crete with kidnaped princess Europa on his back. In the background, her handmaiden are desperate of having let the princess go. Eros, who had shot an arrow causing Zeus to be infatuated with Europa, is seen flying and waving at Europa.

The interest in colors, mythological themes and full-bodied characters are typical of Titian’s lifelong style. His use of variations in tones of colors instead of using vivid ones and the looseness of his brushwork giving a sense of movement characterize his later works and mark a change in the history of Western painting, which will influence Baroque painters such as Rubens and Poussin, and later be core to Romanticism, Impressionism, etc.