The Abduction of Deianira

Description In a popular story involving the loves of the gods from Greco-Roman mythology, the centaur Nessus escapes through the Euenus River with the abducted Deianira, the wife of Hercules, who comes to her rescue. Clad in a lion's skin, he is about to shoot the arrow which will kill the centaur. The cupid with a torch symbolizes the amorous passions that motivated Nessus. The old man with the urn gushing water is the river-god Euenus, and the attending women are nymphs, spirits of the water. The oval painting field indicates that the painting was to be set into a larger framework, and, indeed, Pozzi was primarily known for his decorative ensembles. For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 414, pp. 525-526.

Exhibitions

• Going for Baroque. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995-1996.

Provenance Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 794, as Nicolas Poussin]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902