Jupiter and Ganymede

This entirely monochrome picture must have formed part of the decoration of the interior of a Dutch house. Sadly it is not known which house or even which Dutch town the picture came from. Indeed, relatively few of de Wit's decorations survive in situ as so many of them were removed when they went out of fashion in the 19th century. It is now difficult to visualise the austere yet sumptuous effect of these monochrome decorations surrounded by plasterwork painted cream or white. The subject of Jupiter and Ganymede was popular from Renaissance times onwards. In the early Greek sources, the story was rather vague as it was not clearly stated by what method the beautiful young Ganymede was carried off by Jupiter.