Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan

Dirck van Baburen (signed by artist), 1623

Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. As punishment, Vulcan chained him to a rock, where an eagle pecked out his liver causing him excruciating pain. Here we see Prometheus being chained, his face contorted with fear, while Mercury laughs at him. Van Baburen borrowed the dramatic illumination and the figure’s sunburned hands and faces from his great model Caravaggio.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-1606
  • Dimensionssupport: height 201 cm x width 182 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan
    • Prometheus Chained by Vulcan

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-1606

  • Description

    De liggende Prometheus door Vulcanus aan grote steenblokken geketend. Rechts kijkt Mercurius lachend toe. Achter Vulcanus een adelaar.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • signature and date, lower right: ‘T.D. Baburen fecit / Anº 1623’
    • signature and date, lower left, on a rock: ‘Teodoor de / Babuer / fecit Anº 1623’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Dirck van Baburen (signed by artist)

  • Dating

    1623

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    support: height 201 cm x width 182 cm

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Gift of J. von Loehr, Caïro

  • Acquisition

    gift 1893-12

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; ? sale, Isaak van den Blooken (1653-1706), Amsterdam, 11 May 1707 (‘Prometheus gebonden (levensgroote) konstig en heerlyk geschildert, van Theodorus Barbure. 20-0’);{Hoet I, 1752, p. 99, no. 15.}…; ? sale, Joan de Vries (†) (Amsterdam), The Hague (N. van Wouw), 13 October 1738, as Honthorst (‘Prometheus met Mercurius en Vulcaen, levens groote’);…; sale, Hugo Franz Karl (1701-79), Graf von und zu Eltz, Mainz (auction house not known), 17 May 1785, no. 717 (‘Ein poetisches Stück bezeichnet T.D. Baburen 1623’), 8.30 guilders, to Winterstein;…; collection Scholl, Mainz, 1820;{ _Kunstblatt_, 1820, I, p. 376.}…; donated to the museum by Dr J. von Loehr, German consul in Cairo, 1893;{RANH, ARS, IS, inv. 173, no. 187 (11 December 1893); RANH, ARS, IS, inv. 173, no. 195 (22 December 1893); RANH, ARS, Kop, inv. 290, p. 94, no. 1162 (29 December 1893); RANH, ARS, Kop, inv. 290, pp. 94-95, no. 1163 (30 December 1893).} on loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1924-42

Documentation

    • Miguel Falomir, Las Furias : Alegoría política y desafío artístico, Madrid 2014, p. 99, fig. 60.
    • G. Janzen, 'De lotgevallen van Prometheus in de lage landen, de uitbeelding van de Prometheusmythe in Holland en Vlaanderen vanaf 1500', Hermeneus 59 (1987), p. 146-158.

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