What is "danae"

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In Greek mythology, Danaë ( or , as personal name also , ) was the daughter, and only child of King Acrisius of Argos and his wife Queen Eurydice. She was the mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.

Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, King Acrisius asked the oracle of Delphi if this would change. The oracle announced to him that he would never have a son, but his daughter would, and that he would be killed by his daughter's son. At the time, Danae was childless and, meaning to keep her so, King Acrisius shut her up in a bronze chamber to be constructed under the court of his palace (other versions say she was imprisoned in a tall brass tower with a single richly adorned chamber, but with no doors or windows, just a sky-light as the source of light and air). She was buried in this tomb, never to see the light again. However, Zeus, the king of the gods, desired her, and came to her in the form of golden rain which streamed in through the roof of the subterranean chamber and down into her womb. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.

Unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods or the Furies by killing his offspring and grandchild, King Acrisius cast Danaë and Perseus into the sea in a wooden chest. The sea was calmed by Poseidon and, at the request of Zeus, the pair survived. They were washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in by Dictys – the brother of King Polydectes – who raised Perseus to manhood. The King was charmed by Danaë, but she had no interest in him. Consequently, he agreed not to marry her only if her son would bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Using Athena's shield, Hermes's winged sandals and Hades' helmet of invisibility, Perseus was able to evade Medusa's gaze and decapitate her.

Later, after Perseus brought back Medusa's head and rescued Andromeda, the oracle's prophecy came true. He started for Argos, but learning of the prophecy, instead went to Larissa, where athletic games were being held. By chance, an aging Acrisius was there and Perseus accidentally struck him on the head with his javelin (or discus), fulfilling the prophecy.

Danaë is Rembrandt's painting from the collection of Pierre Crozat which since the 18th century has resided in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. It is a life-sized depiction of the character Danaë from Greek mythology, the mother of Perseus. She is presumably depicted as welcoming Zeus, who impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold. Given that this is one of Rembrandt's most magnificent paintings, it is not out of the question that he cherished it, but it also may have been difficult to sell because of its eight-by-ten-foot size. Although the artist's wife Saskia was the original model for Danaë, Rembrandt later changed the figure's face to that of his mistress Geertje Dircx.

Danaë is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt, created in 1907. An example of Symbolism, the canvas measures 77 x 83 cm, and is in the Galerie Würthle in Vienna. Danaë was a popular subject in the early 1900s for many artists; she was used as the quintessential symbol of divine love, and transcendence.

While imprisoned by her father, King of Argos, in a tower of bronze, Danaë was visited by Zeus, symbolized here as the golden rain flowing between her legs. It is apparent from the subject's face that she is aroused by the golden stream.

In this work, she is curled in a royal purple veil which refers to her imperial lineage. Sometime after her celestial visitation she gave birth to a son, Perseus, who is cited later in Greek mythology for slaying the Gorgon Medusa and rescuing Andromeda.

Many early portrayals of Danaë were erotic; other paintings completed in similar style are Klimt's Medicine (1900–1907), and Water Snakes (1904–1907).

Danaë was the mother of Perseus in Greek mythology.

Danaë or Danae may also refer to:

'Danaë ' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, executed around 1531 and housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.

Danaë in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, is an oil painting by the Italian artist Titian.

Titian painted at least five versions of Danaë (a character from mythology). This version includes much work by members of Titian's workshop, as revealed by the heavier treatment of Danaë's skin-tone and body as well as the hanging drapery.

The Danaë is one of a series of five paintings by Titian of Danaë. It dates to between 1553 and 1554 and is now in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

The Danaë (or Danaë and the Shower of Gold) series comprises at least five oil-on-canvas paintings by the Venetian master Titian, completed between 1540 and 1570. The works are based on the mythological princess Danaë. According to Ovid she was isolated in a bronze dungeon following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father. Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus (in Roman mythology Jupiter), who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to entice her as a shower of gold.

The first version, now in Naples, was painted between 1544-46. Titian executed a later version on commission from the art-loving Spanish monarch Philip II. Titian and his workshop produced at least five versions of the painting, which vary to degrees. The dog resting at Danaë's side is absent in some versions, while her companion is a god in some and a haggish nursemaid in others. In all, Danaë is depicted as a voluptuous figure. Her legs are open in all, with her left leg arched; this being a central painterly motif in each.

The works have been highly influential and affected the work of many artists including Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck and Gustav Klimt, who all painted versions of the scene. According to the 16th-century Italian historian Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo saw the original and praised Titian's use of colour in the Madrid painting, though later, in private, was critical of Titian's draftsmanship.

The Danaë in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, is an oil painting by the Italian artist Titian. It was painted in the 1560s and is one of at least five paintings of Danaë by Titian.

Danaë is a character from mythology, and this version was long believed to have been commissioned by Philip II as part of a mythological series which Titian painted in the 1550s. However, following recent reattribution of several paintings in the Wellington Collection to Titian, it appears that the painting commissioned by Philip II was brought to England by the first Duke of Wellington.

The Prado undertook conservation work on the version of Danaë in the Wellington Collection and the restored painting has since been exhibited in Madrid and London as a genuine Titian. The Prado accepts that its own painting is a later version acquired in Italy by Diego Velázquez. It hangs near Venus and Adonis, another painting in the mythological series.

Danaë is a circa 1623 oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Orazio Gentileschi.

The painting was commissioned in 1621 by Giovanni Antonio Sauli who had invited Gentileschi to Genoa. Gentileschi's painted a number of works for Sauli besides the Danäe, including a Peninent Magdalen and a Lot and his Daughters. The painting draws together the Caravaggesque naturalism that influenced Gentileschi's earlier work with the Tuscan lyricism he later developed.

The subject of the painting is the ancient Greek myth of Danaë, which tells of how Zeus, king of the gods, visited Danaë in a shower of gold, from which union Perseus was born. The myth is regarded as a forerunner of the Christian belief in the Annunciation, the divine conception of Christ.

Orazio's daughter Artemisia Gentileschi later portrayed Danaë.

The painting was auctioned at Sotheby's New York on 28 January 2016. It was the most important Baroque painting to be offered for sale in decades, and purchased for US $30,500,000 by the Getty. It is to be hung alongside Gentileschi's Lot and his Daughters.