The Myth of Prometheus

c. 1510–15

Oil on poplar panel, 66.4 × 118.2 cm · Alte Pinakothek, Munich

A spalliera panel, a painting set into the panelling or furniture of a room, and the first narrative painting of the Prometheus story in modern times. Its companion panel is in Strasbourg.

Several episodes run across one wide landscape.
At centre stands the statue of a youth Prometheus has made.
Minerva talks with Prometheus and then carries him up to heaven to find the spark of life.
The story continues on the Strasbourg panel: the figure brought to life, the theft of fire and Prometheus bound.
Bought by the museum in 1918.

In one tradition Prometheus, a Titan, shaped the first humans from clay; Minerva helped him. The painter followed Boccaccio’s retelling of the myth.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain