The Fall of Ixion

Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem was one of the founders of the Haarlem Mannerists, a group of painters who concentrated on depicting nude figures in complex poses. The story of Ixion’s fall offered them ample scope.

The mythological Ixion lived as an outcast on earth until Zeus, the father of the gods, invited him to join the deities on Mount Olympus. The ungrateful Ixion, however, repaid Zeus’s kindness by trying to seduce his wife, Hera. To punish him, Zeus cast Ixion into Tartarus, the underworld of Greek mythology, where he was bound to a burning wheel for all eternity.

This painting by Cornelis Cornelisz shows Ixion’s descent into the fiery bowels of Tartarus. A scream issues from his gaping mouth. The artist’s rendering of the pose and muscles of the naked figure attests to his skill and his knowledge of anatomy.