Atalanta1.0021_ReniNaples

Guido Reni, 1575-1642. "Atalanta and Hippomenes", oil on canvas (after? 1618-1619), Naples, Italy, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, inv. no. 349.

Atalanta and Hippomenes are depicted in a moment of distraction, but the story, as Ovid tells it (and Guido, as well, here) will soon find them united.

Guido treated the subject as many as three additional times: another version is owned by the Prado (Atalanta1.0021_ReniMadrid); two other treatments are mentioned by Reid but said to be "unlocated". The Prado official website discusses the debate that "has long raged" over the primacy of the Madrid viz. the Naples version.

Perhaps the subject is intriguing to artists, since in Ovid's telling Venus, telling the tale to Adonis, states self-consciously that "When [Hippomenes] saw [Atalanta'] face and, now unrobed, Her body's beauty, beauty such as mine, Adonis, or yours were you a girl, he marvelled..." (Ov. Met.10.578-80) The artistic challenge, thus, is to depict in paint the most beautiful female, as lovely as Venus herself or as Adonis.

The image at right is derived from Google Arts & Culture and used here in accordance with the Museum's statement of fair use.