Europa’s abduction by Jupiter

On the foreground there are three female figures on a hill, one of which is kneeling; on the floor, a basket of flowers and fruits. In the background, a woman is riding a white bull.
Once again, the inscription on the back (“Jupiter in viaggio incontre al sole”), a symbolic one, does not represent the real episode painted. It is actually Europa’s abduction, daughter of Agenor, one of Jupiter’s (Zeus) lovers that would later become mother of Minos. In love with the young woman, Jupiter transformed himself into a remarkably beautiful white bull and, after getting closer to her, won her confidence and abducted her. This story emerges slightly in Iliad (14.321 sqq.) and was given great prominence by Ovid in Metamorphoses (2.833-875), the passage depicted in this painting.