Detail of The Abduction of Europa by Coypel in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, June 2018

The Rape of Europa (Primary Title)

Nöel-Nicolas Coypel, French, 1690 - 1734 (Artist)

Date: 1722

Culture: French

Category: Paintings

Medium: oil on canvas

Collection: European Art

Dimensions: Unframed: 35 1/2 × 40 1/4 in. (90.17 × 102.24 cm)

Framed: 44 1/2 × 49 1/4 in. (113.03 × 125.1 cm)

Object Number: 97.128


In this witty and ironic painting, Coypel illustrates a famous story from antiquity told by Ovid in his epic poem Metamorphoses. Jupiter, king of the Gods, fell in love with Europa, daughter of the king of Tyre, and disguised himself as a tame white bull to entice her onto his back so he could carry her off and seduce her. However, as irreverently painted by Coypel, the story lacks any of the redeeming moralizing that artists traditionally employed to gloss over such ultimately erotic tales. Instead, he humorously contrasts the maiden’s lack of sophistication with the ridiculous lengths to which Jupiter—the most powerful (as well as lustful and petty) of the gods–went to carry out his plan.

Text from: www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-8182612