Homage to Titian: Danäe

Eleanor Rappe

An interpretation of Titan's oil painting Danae from 1544-'45, in which Zeus, in the form of a golden cloud, visits the Greek mythological princess held prisoner by her father in a tower. An oracle has predicted King Acrisius's death at the hands of a grandson; Danae, being his only child, would be the bearer of that grandson, thus her imprisonment to keep her away from suitors.

In the original painting, Danae reclines on a bed while Cupid stands beside her (represented here as a bluebird on Danae's knee). Zeus, intrigued by her beauty, turns himself into a cloud and enters through an open window. He showers her in gold coins and impregnates her, ultimately fulfilling the prophesy.

Rappe's interpretation plucks the jeweled colors from Titian's composition: the rose-colored velvet throw; the cerulean sky seen through the window; the sunset hues of the cloud. In keeping with her interest in decorative additions that relate to the places she depicts, Rappe has rendered a Greek embroidery pattern on Danae's bed clothes, and an embossed pattern on the arch above the scene.