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In this lively oil sketch, Rubens experiments with ideas for the design and composition of one of a series of paintings on a hunting theme commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to decorate his hunting lodge, Torre de la Parade, just outside Madrid. Rubens’s assistants would have used the sketch as a model from which they could complete the full-scale picture. Diana, the goddess of hunting, gave the huntsman Cephalus a magic dog and spear, both shown by his side here as he reclines beneath a tree, shaded from the light. Lost in love at first sight, Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, steps down from her golden chariot and runs towards the handsome young man. Rubens has captured her eager rush towards Cephalus, who sits up, his arms outstretched, apparently eager to go with her.
Title
Aurora abducting Cephalus
Date
about 1636-7
Medium
Oil on oak
Measurements
H 30.8 x W 48.5 cm
Accession number
NG2598
Acquisition method
Salting Bequest, 1910
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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