The Rape of Ganymede, ca. 1500–1505
Giulio Campagnola (Italian, Paduan, ca. 1482–after 1515)
Engraving; plate 6 5/8 x 4 3/4 in. (16.9 x 12 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937 (37.3.10)
Giulio Campagnola (Italian, Paduan, ca. 1482–after 1515)
Engraving; plate 6 5/8 x 4 3/4 in. (16.9 x 12 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937 (37.3.10)
The extreme youth of the boy depicted by Campagnola, together with his willing participation in the event, suggests that a Neoplatonic reading of the myth may be intended. Beginning with the moralized versions of the Metamorphoses in the fourteenth century, the ravishment came to be interpreted as the union of the soul with God.
Campagnola was admired for his singing, lute playing, and knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, as well as for his engravings.
