ALESSANDRO VAROTARI, known as PADOVANINO, circle of
Padua, 1588 – Venice, 1649
Danae
oil on canvas, cm. 114×169
This splendid painting depicts the episode of Danae and Zeus narrated by Ovid in the “Metamorphoses”: imprisoned in a bronze tower by her father Acrisius, King of Argos, after an oracle predicted his death at the hands of his grandson, Zeus nevertheless reached and seduced Danae. Transformed into a shower of gold, Zeus managed to penetrate the maiden’s isolated prison, conceiving with her the infant Perseus. Our painting is reminiscent of Titian’s famous “Danae”, which was painted for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese between 1545 and 1546. According to Monsignor della Casa’s letters, the painting was started in Venice and most likely completed during the artist’s time in Rome, where it was admired by figures such as Michelangelo and Vasari. In contrast to the domestic setting on the right of the masterpiece “Venere di Urbino”, Titian added the figure of Cupid, whose pose is strongly inspired by Roman marble copies of Lysippus’s Eros that the painter had the opportunity to study in Rome. The immediate success of Titian’s painting is evident from the numerous reinterpretations, in similar or different format, painted by other artists up to the 18th century. Among these, our valuable, well-preserved version can be attributed to the circle of Padovanino. The artist was a renowned connoisseur and admirer of Titian and was renowned for his ability to reinterpret the models of the latter, infusing them with his own sensibility — a distinctive feature of his work. This attribution is substantiated by the quality of the painting, which privileges refined, polished forms, and the softness of the flesh tones, rendered with a luminous sheen and a chromatic sensibility characteristic of Venetian painting of the period.