NARRATOR:
This magnificent oil sketch of 1618-19 by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens was inspired by the equally adventurous story of the Calydonian boar: Meleager was the son of the king of Calydon, who had angered the goddess Diana by failing to pay tribute to her. As a punishment, she sent a wild boar to ravage the land, and Meleager set out to kill him. He brought with him not only his finest men, but the woman he loved—the virgin-huntress Atalanta. Here, she appears on the left. According to the Roman poet Ovid, it was she who first wounded the animal:
OVID [ACTOR]:
“Mean-time the virgin-huntress was not slow
T' expel the shaft from her contracted bow:
Beneath his ear the fasten’d arrow stood,
And from the wound appear'd the trickling blood.
She blush'd for joy: but Meleagros rais'd
His voice with loud applause, and the fair archer prais'd.”
NARRATOR:
After killing the boar, Meleager presented Atalanta with its hide, infuriating the male hunters, including his two uncles. Outraged by his relatives’ envy, Meleager slew them, setting in motion his own demise.
Rubens depicts the ferocious fight with great bravura. Frenzied action swirls around the animal as it fights for its life. Rubens uses rapid, spontaneous brushstrokes to add to the tension, suppressing detail in favor of a vivid impression of the struggle.
Oil sketches, or modelli, like this one were key to Rubens’ working style after 1608, when assistants often executed his final paintings. He first worked out his ideas in pen drawings, then developed them further in oil. Modelli were considered the purest representation of an artist’s original invention—as such, they were highly valued by collectors.
To learn more about Rubens’ brilliant personality, press 1531.
Meleager and Atalanta and the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar
c. 1618-19
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640)
On View
The subject is derived from Homer's "Iliad," but it is widely believed that Rubens' composition is drawn from Ovid's narrative in the "Metamorphoses." The goddess Diana has taken insult over the Calydonian king's failure to pay her tribute during the harvest festival. To avenge herself, she sends a ferocious boar to ravage the land. The king's son Meleager, accompanied by the bravest warriors, seeks to destroy the creature. Atalanta, the beautiful virgin huntress, joins the hunt and is the first to wound the boar with her arrow, much to the chagrin of her male competitors.
In this oil sketch, or "modello," Atalanta shoots an arrow at the deadly target while Meleager prevents the boar's escape with his spear. Rubens imparts a sense of immediacy through the use of rapid and spontaneous brushstrokes. Such a vigorous technique typifies the lively flavor of the Baroque style and distinguishes the "modello" from the larger, finished painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Details
- Artist Name: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640)
- Title: Meleager and Atalanta and the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar
- Date: c. 1618-19
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 18-3/4 x 29-1/8 in. (47.6 x 74 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: M.1975.21.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
?Orleans et al. contract sale (London, April, 1793, lot 248).
?Charles-Alexandre de Calonne (sale, London, Skinner and Dycke, 24 March 1795, lot 19).
?Edward Coxe (sale, London, Peter Coxe, 25 April 1807, lot 47, to);
?Sir Henry Rivers, 9th Bart, Kent (d. 1851).
Mrs. Macmurrough Kavanagh, Borris House, Ireland.
[Coutts & Co. (sold 15 April 1959 to];
[Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, stock 2631] (sold 28 October 1959 to);
[Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, 1960, sold 1962 to];
Mr. and Mrs. Norton Simon, 1962-1975, when given to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
?Charles-Alexandre de Calonne (sale, London, Skinner and Dycke, 24 March 1795, lot 19).
?Edward Coxe (sale, London, Peter Coxe, 25 April 1807, lot 47, to);
?Sir Henry Rivers, 9th Bart, Kent (d. 1851).
Mrs. Macmurrough Kavanagh, Borris House, Ireland.
[Coutts & Co. (sold 15 April 1959 to];
[Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, stock 2631] (sold 28 October 1959 to);
[Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, 1960, sold 1962 to];
Mr. and Mrs. Norton Simon, 1962-1975, when given to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1980-11-18 to 1981-05-20
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 55
- Jaffé, Michael, Catalogo Completo Rubens,1989, no. 483 p. 239
- Jaffé, Michael, The Burlington Magazine,fig. 28 pp. 440, 443
- Gerson, Horst, The Connoisseur, p. 163
- Gerson, Horst, The Connoisseur,pl. 8 p. 163
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum,1980, p. 46
- Heinz, Günther, Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640,fig. 19 p. 93
- Coffey, Susan, Peter Paul Rubens, p. 17
- Held, Julius S., The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens,no. 249; pl. 271 p. 337-339
- Rubens in Vienna,2004, No. 51, Fig. 1 pp. 228-230
- Balis, Arnout, Landscapes and Hunting Scenes; Corpus Rubeniam Ludwig Burchard, Part XVIII,no. 10a, fig. 70 pp. 158-159, 161-162
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America,1979, p. 242
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 112 p. 258
- Adler, Wolfgang, Jan Wildens: der Landschaftsmitarbeiter des Rubens,under no. G38 p. 102
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