ScyllaCrataeis2.0006a

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640. "Scylla and Glaucus", ca. 1636, oil on panel sketch. Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne, France; accession number CM31.

The subject was painted by Rubens painted decoration of the Torre de la Parada, El Pardo, Madrid (perhaps executed by Erasmus Quellinus), but the final production is now lost.

Rubens' sketch treats the moment of Scylla's frightening transformation before the eys of her admirer, Glaucus. The benign marine monstrosity of Glaucus is a result of Circe's earlier transformation, an intervention designed to estrange his affections from Circe's envied rival, Scylla. Now, in this moment, the lovely Scylla is being transformed by Circe's application of magical toxins to the water where her rival Scylla bathes. The onset of ravenous dogs about her loins is consistent with the monstrous metamorphosis of Scylla in Roman myth especially.