Detail of Bellona by Rembrandt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2010

Bellona

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)

Date: 1633

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 50 x 38 3/8 in. (127 x 97.5 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931

Accession Number: 32.100.23

Gallery Label:

The subject of this rather eccentric picture is Bellona, the Roman goddess of war. As in other paintings by Rembrandt of about 1633–34, the figure type is inspired by Rubens, although here the facial features are plainer than in any of the Flemish master's mythological scenes. Like the Dutch spelling, "Belloona," on the shield, the lady may be meant as native to the Netherlands, a new nation ready to resist foreign rule. Images of Mars and Bellona occasionally decorated the headquarters of civic guard companies, which were important social institutions in Amsterdam, Haarlem, and elsewhere. Such a commission may explain some of the painting's most distinctive features, including the attention given to the armor, and perhaps even the substantial revision (revealed by radiographs) of moving the sword and the shield from one hand to the other.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1100...