Erichthonius’ release

Landscape in shades of green and brown. On the right side appears a hybrid figure, child on top and with serpent-like tail and feet, running away from a woman that appears to be throwing water on it from an amphora. Behind them, another woman, older and in a crouching position, seems to want to grab something. The Italian inscription on the back (“Transformazione di Jupiter”) does not match the scene, as it will be seen in the following pieces. It concerns the release of Erichthonius, one of the first mythical kings of Athens. There are several traditions related to his birth. In Ovid’s version (Metamorphoses 2.553-561) it is said to be Vulcanus’ “son of no mother”, the one who would be a legendary king of Athens. In reality, he was born of Vulcanus’ fulminant passion for Athena, as she went to his hell forges to order weapons. While she was running away from the god, he managed to seize her and pour a drop of sperm on her leg, which she shook off to the ground. There the hero was conceived, and that’s why the etymology of his name keeps the Greek term for “earth” (chthôn). Athena, to hide her offspring, enclosed him in a basket, which she handed to the custody of the daughters of Cecrops. The girls, moved by curiosity, opened the basket; some versions state that they found a child surrounded by two serpents; others affirm that inside the basket was a hybrid being with a serpent tail, as it is common in the beings born from the earth. Ovid, in the referred verses, follows the first version. However, the painter appears to have preferred to illustrate the second one due to its more spectacular nature, a choice rather frequent in the sixteenth and seventeenth century illustrations of the Metamorphoses.