Marten de Vos was a member of the Guild of Artists in Antwerp, which at the end of the 16th century. became a significant art center. His elegant manner of writing fully manifested itself in the Picture of the Abduction of Europe.
On the canvas is depicted a Nude Europe, prostrate on the back of Jupiter, turned into a white bull; her clothes gracefully uplifted from the wind above her head, and she herself clung to the horns of a bull. Her sad look is directed to the beach, where she played carefree with her friends.
Like many artists of his time, de Vos traveled to Italy, so the painting feels a strong influence of the Venetian artists Veronese and Titian, who wrote on this subject. EUROPE. Jupiter fell in love with the daughter of the Phoenician king of Europe and, turning into a bull, mixed with a herd, grazing near the sea shore, where she played with her friends. In the picture of Veronese at the Doge’s Palace in Venice, Europe admires the beautiful bull and hands him flowers, he also kisses her hand.
According to legend, Jupiter frolicked and played until Europe ceased to fear him, began to hang garlands of flowers on his horns and eventually did not climb onto his back. Then he rushed to sea by sea to the island of Crete, where he shared a bed with her. Europe gave birth to Jupiter three sons; one of them was Minos, who became king of Crete. According to another version, one of the sons was the continent of Europe, and Europe itself became a bull and became a zodiacal constellation of Taurus.
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