Deucalion and Pyrrha

Deucalion and Pyrrha shows the couple from Ovid's Metamorphoses after the flood, at the moment when, following an oracle's instruction, they throw stones over their shoulders; each stone becomes a new person who will repopulate the earth. Placed on the left, the pair stands for their role in founding a new lineage, a theme well suited to a marriage chest or wedding panel. Of unknown English provenance, the panel has been attributed to the Sienese master since 1920 and is usually compared with other mythological scenes of his. The quick, nuanced brushwork and lively storytelling reflect the influence of Raphael's models in the Vatican Loggia and the frieze room of the Villa Farnesina. The open landscape, warm in tone with fading aerial perspective, includes a circular temple on the left that recalls Roman classicism. The painting is held in the Horne Museum in Florence.

Painter

Domenico Beccafumi

Date

1520

Dimensions

66 × 145 cm

Museum

Museo Horne, Florence

Genre

mythological painting

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