Art Institute of Chicago

Alpheus and Arethusa

Moyses van Uyttenbroeck (Dutch, c. 1590-1648)

Date: 1626
Medium: Oil on panel
Culture: Netherlands
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

This intimate painting depicts a scene from Ovid’s The Metamorphoses , an ancient Roman poem, in which the river god Alpheus menaces Arethusa, a nymph, as she bathes. Here, the hulking Alpheus climbs the riverbank in pursuit of the stout nymph, who looks back in fear as she flees. With his lush landscapes and unidealized figures, Uyttenbroeck belonged to the generation of artists who influenced the young Rembrandt van Rijn . Their work inspired the dramatic poses and gestures that Rembrandt adopted as a means of conveying emotion.

View at Art Institute of Chicago ↗

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Art Institute of Chicago

Linked open data

Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.

Object type: AAT300033618

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.