30 REMBRANDT In the Metamorphoses (2:833—875), the poet Ovid tells how Jupiter, disguised as a HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN white bull, seduces the Princess Europa away from her companions and carries her Dutch, 1606­1669 across the sea. Rembrandt evokes the substance and lyricism of this classical story The Abduction of Europa, 1632 by showing Europa as she "trembles with fear and looks back at the receding shore, Oil on panel holding fast a horn... her fluttering garments stream[ing]... in the wind." He also 62.2 x 77 cm (24½ x 30 5/16 in.) enriches Ovid's narrative through his vivid characterization of emotion. Europa, On the brown stone below standing women at lower right, signed stunned by her abduction, turns toward her two companions. The youngest throws RHL van Ryn.1632. up her arms in horror, dropping the garland of flowers that moments ago was destined 95.PB.7 for the bull's neck. Her sudden shock contrasts with the contained sadness of her older companion, who clasps her hands in grief as she rises to look at the princess one last time; only she understands Europa's fate, and it is her gaze that the princess meets. Rembrandt's comedic sense lightens the drama. Jupiter, limited by his disguise, expresses victory in bovine fashion by excitedly extending his tail as he plunges from the shore. Jupiter's reaction is in sharp contrast to the passive, mindless horses who stand harnessed to the princess's grandiose and immobile carriage. Seemingly too large for the road, and with its sunshade uselessly open in the shadows, the carriage contrasts with the swift white bull who carries Europa into the light toward the new continent that will one day bear her name. A luminous landscape also acts as a protagonist in this drama. The meticulously detailed, dark, wall­like stand of trees serves as a foil to the loosely handled, light­shot, pink and blue regions of sea and sky. The unusually low horizon creates an expansive vista where clouds, shore, and sea gently roll toward each other. Along the horizon, shrouded in mist, is Tyre, the city forsaken by Europa. The carriage's glittering gold highlights and the richly varied textures of the sumptuous costumes show Rembrandt both delighting in his mastery of visual effects and inviting the viewer to share his pleasure in detail. The sea's glowing reflections, the spray tossed up by the well­clad princess's shoe skimming through the water, and her delicate grasp of the soft flesh of the bull's neck captivate the eye and linger in the mind. The painting shows the young artist working at the height of his powers upon his arrival in Amsterdam in 1632. DA DUTCH AND FLEMISH SCHOOLS 57