Who painted Landscape with Philemon and Baucis?

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis was painted by Peter Paul Rubens in 1620.

Where can I see Landscape with Philemon and Baucis?

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis is held by Kunsthistorisches Museum.

What movement is Landscape with Philemon and Baucis?

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis is associated with Flemish Baroque painting.

Can I buy a print of Landscape with Philemon and Baucis?

Museum-quality prints of Landscape with Philemon and Baucis are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.

Artwork

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis

Peter Paul Rubens , 1620

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Peter Paul Rubens. It dates from 1620 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

Rubens visualizes this divine retribution through a turbulent landscape featuring a stormy sky filled with dark clouds and lightning.

The painting illustrates the mythological narrative of Philemon and Baucis as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses. It depicts an elderly couple who, alone in their Phrygian community, offered hospitality to the disguised gods Zeus and Hermes. In response to the inhospitality of the surrounding population, Zeus unleashes a catastrophic flood upon the region while sparing the virtuous couple, instructing them to seek refuge on a mountain peak.

Rubens visualizes this divine retribution through a turbulent landscape featuring a stormy sky filled with dark clouds and lightning. A swollen river cascades through the scene, spanned by a rainbow, while the heavens begin to clear in the distance. The composition includes figures of the aged couple alongside the deities, observing the devastation wrought by the storm, thereby emphasizing themes of piety, divine judgment, and salvation.

Technique & Style

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis is executed in oil paint. Sources differ on the support: the Wikidata record describes the work as oil on panel, while the French and Spanish Wikipedia entries both specify oil on canvas, giving dimensions of approximately 1.47 × 2.09 meters (146 × 208.5 cm).

Stylistically, the painting is classified as a mythological landscape, a genre fusion typical of Rubens's late output. The composition centers on the Ovidian flood narrative, rendered through a turbulent sky of dark storm clouds pierced by lightning, with a swollen river cascading down as a waterfall across the scene. A rainbow arcs through the falling water, and a renewed illumination breaks through the tormented sky in the background at left. On the right, the figures of the elderly couple Philemon and Baucis alongside Zeus and Hermes observe the devastation wrought by the divine storm.

The sources do not provide information on the painting's current condition or on specific handling details such as brushwork or underdrawing.

History & Provenance

Landscape with Philemon and Baucis is an oil painting on panel created in 1620 by Peter Paul Rubens. The work measures 146 cm in height and 208.5 cm in width and depicts the mythological scene of Philemon and Baucis from Ovid's Metamorphoses, showing their hospitality to disguised deities and the ensuing flood. The painting has remained in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna since its acquisition, where it is displayed as part of the museum's Baroque holdings. Its provenance is documented through successive museum inventories, confirming continuous ownership by the institution from its creation to the present.

The painting is held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains part of the museum's collection. The institution's own publications have documented the work, including its inclusion in the museum's 1997 paintings catalogue on page 71 and in a Scala Books edition of the same year.

No specific inventory or accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no prior exhibition history beyond its presence at the Kunsthistorisches Museum is documented.