"Danae" Rembrandt: the history of the picture and interesting facts of its creation

In the history of painting there are a number of paintings with a tragicand at the same time a mysterious story. Cloth "Danae" Rembrandt - one of them. Today the picture is shown to art lovers in the hall of Dutch and Flemish painting on the second floor of the main building of the Hermitage. For security's sake, the "Dana" was protected with armored glass.

You ask why such caution? June 15, 1985 painting "Danae" Rembrandt was attacked by a mentally ill man who doused the picture with sulfuric acid and applied a few knives with a knife. This person was a resident of Lithuania, Bronius Maygis, who subsequently explained the act of vandalism with political motives. The most important part of the canvas, the figure of Danai, suffered most.

Restoration lasted a long 12 years, and on October 14, 1997, the "Danaya" Rembrandt took its place of honor in the hall of the Hermitage.

The history of creating a picture of its origins goes into1636 year. The canvas is written on the history of the ancient Greek myth of Danae, this story was played out by many famous artists. The story tells of the beautiful Danae, which his own father, the king of the ancient Greek city of Argos, concluded in the dungeon. He was afraid of the prophecy, which said that he would die at the hands of his grandson, who would be called Perseus. But, in spite of everything, the god Zeus, turning into a golden rain, penetrated into the dungeon. Soon the beautiful Danae gave birth to the son of Perseus.

Rembrandt very fervently loved his wife Saskiavan Eylenbyurkh and very often wrote it on his canvases. "Danae" Rembrandt was no exception, this picture the artist did not write for sale. The canvas did not leave the walls of his house until the auction sale of all his property in 1656. Art critics were lost in various guesses, why the similarity with Saskia in this picture was not so obvious, as on the other canvases of the master of this period. The style of painting spoke of a later period of his work.

Only in the middle of the last century with the advent offluoroscopy restorers managed to open the veil of this mystery. The pictures showed that in fact the artist copied it after the death of the spouse. The portrait of the woman on the lower layer of the painting was very similar to Sachsia. Later, he fell in love with another woman, the wet nurse of her son Gertier Dirks, so in the "Danae" were combined images of two beloved women.

Another interesting fact is that when writing the golden rain (in the picture from below) and the golden light that we see now, the artist mixed crushed amber into the oil paint.

"Danae" Rembrandt was in the Hermitage in those days,when patrons of museums were kings, with the help of which collections were collected. In 1772, the picture was bought by Queen Catherine II, together with part of the once large collection of works of art by Baron Crozet in France. This canvas for centuries was considered one of the main masterpieces of the Hermitage.

One must know and remember that one of the greatestDutch painters of the golden age is Rembrandt. "Danae" - not the only picture of the artist, affected by the vandals. In the last century, Rembrandt's Night Watch had suffered three attacks three times. Therefore, museum staff are forced to resort to such measures as armored glass.