VERONESE, Paolo
(b. 1528, Verona, d. 1588, Venezia)

The Rape of Europa (detail)

c. 1578
Oil on canvas
Palazzo Ducale, Venice

Jupiter, in the guise of a white bull, carries off the girl whose face already betrays her rapture and whose fine breast is bared. This dramatic episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses has been elegantly transformed into a country fair.