Der Raub der Töchter des Leukippos

Around 1618 Rubens was the busiest painter in Europe, running a large Antwerp workshop and turning Greek myth into pure physical energy. Here he takes a violent story, the twin brothers Castor and Pollux seizing two sisters, and freezes it at the most unstable instant, when nobody in the picture has firm footing. Everything is caught mid-motion. The two horses tell you which brother is which. Castor was the horse-tamer, so his mount is calm and steadied by a small winged boy. Pollux was the boxer, and his horse rears up out of control. Rubens locks four figures and two animals into one spinning wheel of limbs, so your eye never settles. The landscape underneath was painted by a specialist, Jan Wildens, who often handled the settings while Rubens drove the bodies.