Cornelis van Poelenburgh

Cornelis van Poelenburgh was one of the first Dutch landscape painters to masterfully capture the light and atmosphere of the south in his works. In the present painting, set in a mountainous area with a flat valley floor that merges into a forest, he depicts the key scene from the myth of Atalante and Hippomenes. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 10, 559 ff.), Atalante, who has sworn an oath of virginity, challenges her suitor Hippomenes to a race. Hippomenes, however, deceives the superior woman with a trick devised by Aphrodite. He drops three golden apples, which Atalante picks up from the ground. Her opponent glances over his shoulder to make sure of his victory as he approaches the finish line, which is marked by a pedestal on the left. The fierce duel is cheered by the surrounding spectators. On the right, the goddess of love is depicted from behind, also cheering, her arm outstretched to indicate that the tide has now turned. Poelenburgh's sophisticated lighting heightens the inherent drama of the scene and lends it a quality that goes far beyond the mere retelling of the myth. With an expert opinion and photographic expertise by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, dated January 1927 (copy).