Who painted Selene und Endymion?

Selene und Endymion was painted by Parmigianino.

Where can I see Selene und Endymion?

Selene und Endymion is held by Bavarian State Painting Collections.

What movement is Selene und Endymion?

Selene und Endymion is associated with Mannerism.

Artwork

Selene und Endymion

Parmigianino

Selene und Endymion is an unspecified painting by the Mannerist artist Parmigianino. It is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.

About this work

Overview

Parmigianino’s Selene und Endymion is a Mannerist oil painting that portrays the moon goddess Selene attending the sleeping shepherd Endymoth. Executed in the early 17th century, the work belongs to the artist’s mature period and is part of the Alte Pinakothek’s collection in Munich.

Subject & Meaning

The composition draws on the classical myth in which Selene, enamoured of the eternally youthful Endymoth, visits him each night. The goddess is shown in flowing robes with a crescent moon embedded in her hair, while the shepherd lies nude, his head turned in repose. A small dog rests at his feet, a conventional symbol of fidelity.

Technique & Style

The painting exemplifies Parmigianino’s Mannerist sensibility through elongated figures and a graceful, almost ethereal handling of drapery. A pronounced chiaroscuro model gives the scene depth, the dark background receding to highlight the illuminated forms of the two central figures.

History & Provenance

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, worked in several Italian centers, including Parma, Florence, Rome and Bologna. Selene und Endymion entered the Alte Pinakothek’s holdings in the 19th century, where it remains on display as part of the museum’s Renaissance collection.

Context

Created during a period when artists revived classical mythology for decorative and allegorical purposes, the work reflects the courtly taste for refined sensuality and intellectual allusion that characterized Mannerist art in the late Renaissance.

Venus Weeping over the Slain Adonis, Victor Honoré Janssens

Artist & collection

Artist

Parmigianino

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (UK: US: Italian:; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter…