In the history of painting there are a number of paintings with a tragic and at the same time mysterious history. The canvas "Danae" by Rembrandt is one of them. Today, the painting is shown to art lovers in the hall of Dutch and Flemish painting on the second floor of the main building of the Hermitage. For security reasons, “Danae” was protected by armored glass.
You may ask why such caution? On June 15, 1985, Rembrandt’s Danae was attacked by a mentally ill man who doused the painting with sulfuric acid and stabbed the canvas several times. This person was a resident of Lithuania Bronius Maygis, who later explained the act of vandalism by political motives. The most important part of the canvas, the Danai figure, suffered the most.
The restoration lasted a long 12 years, and on October 14, 1997, the “Danae” by Rembrandt took its place of honor in the hall of the Hermitage.
The history of the creation of the picture with its origins goes back to 1636. The canvas is written on the history of the ancient Greek myth of Danae, this plot was played out by many famous artists. The story tells about the beautiful Danube, which his own father, the king of the ancient Greek city of Argos, enclosed in a dungeon. He was afraid of a prophecy that said that he would die at the hands of his grandson, who would be called Perseus. But, in spite of everything, the god Zeus, turning into golden rain, penetrated the dungeon. Soon, the beautiful Danae gave birth to the son of Perseus.
Rembrandt very reverently loved his wife Saskia van Eilenburh and very often painted her on his canvases. Rembrandt's “Danae” was no exception, the artist painted this picture not for sale. The canvas did not leave the walls of his house until the auction sale of all his property in 1656. Art historians were at a loss about why the resemblance to Saskia in this painting was not so obvious as on other canvases by the masters of this period. The style of painting spoke of a later period of his work.
Only in the middle of the last century with the advent of fluoroscopy did restorers manage to unveil the veil of this mystery. The pictures showed that in fact the artist rewrote it after the death of his wife. The portrait of a woman on the lower layer of the picture was very similar to Saxia. Later, he fell in love with another woman, the nurse of her son Gertier Dirks, so in “Danae” the images of two beloved women were combined.
An interesting fact is that when writing the golden rain (in the picture below) and the golden light that we see now, the artist knead crushed amber in oil paint.
Rembrandt's “Danae” came to the Hermitage at a time when the patrons of museums were kings, with the help of which collections were collected. In 1772, the painting was bought by Empress Catherine II, along with part of a once large collection of works of art by Baron Croz in France. For centuries, this canvas was considered one of the main masterpieces of the Hermitage.
You need to know and remember that one of the greatest Dutch painters of the golden age is Rembrandt. “Danae” is not the only painting by the artist that suffered from vandals. In the last century, Rembrandt’s Night Watch suffered three times from attacks. Therefore, museum staff are forced to resort to measures such as armored glass.