Art Captions

Author notes

0026. The Rape of Ganymede.

CornTown

on Feb. 14, 2010

By Rembrandt van Rijn. (1606-1669)
Circa. 1635
Baroque Art

Ganymede was a famous Trojan warrior from early Greek mythology whose combat skills were only matched by his beauty. So beautiful was Ganymede that Zeus fell in love with him and wanted him for his own. So the god of all gods sent a giant eagle down to earth who spirited away with the young soldier, bring him to Mount Olympia. Zeus gave the young man immortality and the boy was made a royal cup bearer for the gods. In the end, Ganymede was put into the stars as the consolation Aquarius, the cup bearer.

The story of Ganymede is one of homosexual love which was considered a higher standard of love than Heterosexual love in ancient Greece. However, when Rembrandt painted the scene, he removed all context of homosexuality by painting Ganymede as a cherubic baby rather than a full grown man.