Danaë (Rembrandt)

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Danaë

Rembrandt, 1636

oil on canvas

185 × 203 cm

Hermitage Museum

Danaë is Rembrandt's painting from the collection of Pierre Crozat which from the 18th century resides in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. It depicts the character Danaë from Greek mythology, the mother of Perseus. She is presumably depicted as welcoming Zeus, who impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold.

[edit] Vandalism

On 15 June 1985 Rembrandt's painting was attacked by a man later judged insane who poured sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with his knife. The entire central part of the composition was turned into a mixture of spots with a conglomerate of splashes and areas of dripping paint.

The process of restoring the painting began the same day. Following consultations with chemists, art restorers began washing the surface of the painting with water; they kept the painting in the vertical position, and blew mouthfuls of water at the painting to prevent further degradation of the painting.

The restoration of the painting was accomplished between 1985 and 1997 by staff of the State Hermitage's Laboratory of Expert Restoration of Easel Paintings Ye.N. Gerasimov (group leader), A.G. Rakhman, and G.A. Shirokov, with the participation of T.P. Alioshina in matters of scientific methodology.