Daughters of Leucippus

• Key facts


  Size: 224 cm × 209 cm (life-size)

  Medium: oil on canvas

  Location: The Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

  Patron: Purchased by Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of the Wittelsbach dynasty (European royalty), he had a large collection of works by Rubens
• Peter Paul Rubens, The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus, c. 1618
• Description


  This mythological painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens illustrates the tale told by the ancient Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE – 18 CE), concerning the abduction of the daughters of King Leucippus by the twin brothers Castor and Pollux.3 The brothers were set to marry Hilaeira and Phoebe - the daughters of Leucippus; however, the women were already betrothed to another set of twin brothers. So, to have their way, Castor and Pollux carried the women off to Sparta, where they were duly married, and both gave birth to sons.
• Iconography


  Castor the horse-tamer is recognisable from his armour, whilst Pollux the boxer is shown bare chested. They are also distinguished by their horses—Castor's is well-behaved (and Cupid holds the reins), whereas Pollux's horse is rearing. Phoebe and Hilaeira do not have distinguishing attributes, so which sister is which is unclear.
• Interpretation


  Art critics continue to debate the meaning of work. Some scholars have suggested that the artist is promoting natural impulse over conventional inhibition, or different styles of rule over empire, or simply (with Cupid), love.
• Composition and light


  The composition is based on two different diagonals diverging from the foot of the painting, where the feet of Pollux and Phoebe stand side by side, while the white skin of the nude blonde women provides a sharp contrast with the brown bodies of their kidnappers
• Composition and light


  Despite the violence of the scene, the four figures and two horses are carefully arranged to create a dynamic but balanced composition. The figures are complexly interlocked in a choreographed mass. The violent action is also set off by the tranquillity of the beautiful blue sky and rolling landscape in the background.
• Compositional echoing used
• Style


  Flemish baroque
• Rubens led the Flemish Baroque and has been described as a bridge between the Classicism of the Italian Renaissance and the dynamism of the Baroque.This painting exemplifies the meeting of the two.
• Historical context


  The Netherlands were divided: the northern Protestant Dutch provinces fought for independence from Spain; whilst the southern Catholic part, where Rubens lived, remained under Spanish Catholic rule. Rubens was Catholic. Many artists, including Rubens, trained in Italy where they were influenced by the works of Michelangelo and other Classical sculptural prototypes.
• In 1581 the Netherlands declared independence from Spain. The resulting hostilities, known as the Thirty Years’ War, ended in 1648 with the signing of the Treaty of Munster.
• Despite Rubens’s Catholic background and the fact that overt sexuality was censored, he managed fleshy and rather erotic works like this under the guise of mythology. It was a common contradiction:

  Rubens depicted Christian and pagan themes in steady, simultaneous production in the late 1610s. His devotion to the Catholic Church is as heartfelt as his pleasure in an imagined world of pagan gods and goddesses… Art Historian: Ann Sutherland Harris
• Rubens fully understood the intellectual narratives of his mythologies: alongside a fine education, his well-connected father had taught him Italian and Latin, and these languages helped Rubens in his later diplomatic duties.
• The early Enlightenment contributed to liberal and individual thought in the Dutch Republic, and contemporary philosophers such as Descartes and Newton were busy creating paradigm shifts and changing the way we viewed the world. This created a tension and a concern over the morality of society which was linked to the stability of the nation. It was a complex time socially, politically and religiously. Such complexity may account for myriad readings of this painting.
• Art historian, Margaret Carroll suggests that the force evident in this ‘abduction’ may relate to the powerful political rule in the previous century: "Force, which had previously been thought to be just one of several factors which determined politics, now came to be regarded as the decisive factor".
• The cool colours and black shadows of his early Roman years were gradually replaced by a brighter, warmer palette, with his flesh painting, for which he is justly famous, becoming increasingly suggestive. He used creamy, almost opalescent colours for women’s skin, the blood beneath the surface suggested by grey lines for veins that read as blue beneath a thin layer of flesh colour.
• The shadows and contours of flesh areas are accented by touches of rust red; they can be found at the corners of mouths and eyes, in nostrils, at a shadowed point on a wrist bone. If there is any red drapery nearby, and there often is, then reflected red shadows appear on the skin too.
• His men follow the convention of having darker skin tones than women. The illusion of real skin taut over bone and muscle is as convincing for them as for the softer bodies of his goddesses and nymphs. All share superhuman proportions for they are Rubens’s conception of an ideal humanity, the men as chunky as cart horses, the women muscular as well as smooth
• Influences


  Rubens worked in various studios but under Otto van Veen he was particularly encouraged to study the frescoes and statues of High Renaissance master, Michelangelo. He was in fact influenced by all the Renaissance masters: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian but always adapted their motifs.
• Patronage


  The patronage of this work cannot be accounted for with certainty, although we can be sure that Rubens would have felt confident about its sale. He gained commission from the most powerful names in Europe but also accepted as an equal at court: Knighted by Charles I and Philip IV, Rubens accomplished a rare feat, namely to be seen simultaneously as a gentleman, a great craftsman, and a great intellect. Ann Sutherland Harris, p. 148
• Influence


  Rubens paid close attention to anatomical accuracy and his musculature rivalled Michelangelo’s. Rubens was also a great admirer of Leonardo da Vinci's work, and Ruben’s copied Leonardo’s The Battle of Anghiari, before the original work was lost.