L'Enlèvement d'Europe

By 1643, when Jordaens signed this, he was the busiest painter in Antwerp almost by default. Rubens had died in 1640 and Van Dyck in 1641, and the two men who had overshadowed him for a lifetime were suddenly gone, leaving Jordaens the leading master of the city. The subject is an old one he had painted before as a young man: Jupiter, disguised as a gentle white bull, carrying the princess Europa away across the sea to Crete. Jordaens keeps it earthy and crowded, full of ruddy flesh and startled companions rather than cool elegance. A small cupid hovers above to remind us the bull is really the god of love in a borrowed shape.