The Rape of Europa

1559–62

Oil on canvas, 178 × 205 cm · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

The sixth and last of Titian’s poesie for Philip II of Spain, shipped from Venice in 1562. It is the only one of the series in America.

Europa clings to the bull’s horn and waves a red veil back to her friends on the shore.
Cupid riding a dolphin repeats her pose; Titian’s signature sits at lower left.
Given to the future Charles I of England in 1623, but it stayed in Madrid when the marriage talks failed.
Isabella Stewart Gardner bought it in 1896; restored in 2018–19.

Zeus took the form of a white bull, charmed the Phoenician princess Europa, and swam off with her to Crete. The continent of Europe was later named after her.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain