Harvard Art Museums

Aeolus and the Winds

Unidentified Artist

Date

1645-1670

Medium

Bronze with black-brown patina

Culture

Flemish

Department

Department of Paintings, Sculpture & Decorative Arts

Institution

Harvard Art Museums

According to Greek mythology, Aeolus lived on the island Aeolia, identified today with Lipari or Stromboli, north of Sicily. He kept the winds in a cave and released them to help or impede nautical voyages. In this dynamic bronze, Aeolus is shown as a bearded old man with a powerful physique, a type shared with figures such as Neptune and the river gods. He is seated on a rocky pedestal that doubles as the winds’ cave. His hair blown backward and his rippling muscles catching the light, he places a large hand on one of the winds, manipulating it like an instrument; as if in response, the wind puffs out its cheeks. A second wind kneels beneath Aeolus’s foot and grasps the face of a third, shown emerging from or disappearing into the cave.

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