The rape of Europe

This young Europa together with Dinis and Adonis io kissed by Jupiter and deni and the golden shower dated 1829 and exhibited next to it is part of a cycle that was probably intended to decorate a bedroom with subjects related to the mythological loves of the guards the maiden turns her frightened gaze towards her desperate companions on the shore holding the horn of a very white bull in her left hand behind which in concealed Zeus in on his many metamorphisms she draws her legs back from the waves while her billowing robe is held by a cupid. Compared with the other works in this mythographic series the abduction of Europa is the only one that departs from the theme of grace and extenuates the terror of abduction. The atmosphere of the whole composition is however softened by the transparency of the water and sky and the poetic rays on the horizon.