''Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan'' is an oil painting of 1623 by

Dirck van Baburen Dirck Jaspersz. van Baburen (c. 1595 – 21 February 1624) was a Dutch painter and one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Biography Dirck van Baburen was probably born in Wijk bij Duurstede, but his family moved to Utrecht when he was still young. ...

of the

Utrecht School Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Dutch city of Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth century had become distinctly infl ...

, and an example of

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

. The painting represents a tale from Greco-Roman mythology.

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

, the messenger of the gods, watches the club-footed blacksmith god,

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

, punish the bold and cunning Titan

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...

for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Prometheus's punishment is to be bound to a rock and to have his liver consumed daily by an eagle, which appears partially at the top left. The painting mysteriously has two signatures: the first is a clear signature below the right-hand shoulder of Prometheus. During a restoration of the painting, a second signature was discovered at the lower left by his hand. Prometheus is associated with the Greek creation myth where, in some versions, he creates humans from clay and the stolen fire is to bring them to life. A painting, ''Adam and Eve'', also by Baburen, was sold at auction in 1707 together with the ''Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan'', and one might conjecture that the two works formed a pair, both being illustrations of creation.Lilian H. Zirpolo, ''Historical Dictionary of Baroque Art and Architecture'', London, Rowman & Littlefield, 2nd edition, 2018, p. 90

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prometheus Being Chained By Vulcan Paintings by Dirck van Baburen 1623 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Paintings depicting Greek myths Prometheus Torture in art Paintings of Vulcan (mythology)