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Glaucus and Scylla

Creator

French Artist · 1606–1656

When, at the age of thirty-three, he married the daughter of the personal bodyguard of Louis XIII, king of France, Laurent de La Hyre became the focus of French aristocratic gossip. By this time, he was already well known as a painter and greatly favored by the religious orders. After studying painting with his father, he made a mark on the Parisian art scene with his first major commission, an al

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Date: about 1640–1644
Medium: Oil on canvas
Culture: French
Department: Paintings
Institution: Getty Museum

The sea god Glaucus pulls aside his beard, revealing Cupid's arrow protruding from his chest. Looking up, he sees the maiden Scylla on a rocky cliff and pronounces his love for her. Laurent de La Hyre represented a romantic scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Glaucus rises from the sea with an elegant, curling white beard, a muscular torso, and a scaly tail that unwinds among the reeds. Clad only in crumpled white and red drapery gathered around her waist, Scylla leans forward, gesturing with her hand. Behind her, Cupid looks ready to let loose another arrow. La Hyre used soft pinks in the sky and delicate hues of blue in the water, in contrast to the vivid green used for the reeds and foliage. The painting was intended as a design for a tapestry series woven by the Gobelins factories and representing the loves of the gods.

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