Cimon and Iphigenia

The story here comes from Boccaccio, writing in the 1350s. Cimon is a rich man's son, so dull and boorish that his own father has sent him to live out in the fields. Walking one day, he finds a young woman, Iphigenia, asleep by a fountain, and the sight of her is said to wake his mind, turning the oaf slowly into a courteous, capable man. Rubens painted the moment of first looking, around 1617. Like many of his largest canvases, this was teamwork. Rubens did the figures, while Frans Snyders added the still life with monkeys at the lower right and Jan Wildens laid in the landscape behind. The idea that beauty could civilise a person was a favourite of Rubens' cultured circle in Antwerp. Look for the sleeping woman's open hand, fallen loose, the small detail on which the whole tale turns.