Prometheus Bound

Prometheus Bound is an oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque artist from Antwerp. Influenced by the Greek play, Prometheus: The Friend of Man, Peter Paul Rubens completed this painting in his studio with collaboration from Frans Snyders, who rendered the eagle. It remained in his possession from 1612 to 1618, when it was traded in a group of paintings completed by Rubens, to Englishman Sir Dudley Carleton in exchange for his collection of classical statues. This work is currently in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. History In 1582, Peter Paul Rubens first apprenticed with a distant relative, Tobias Verhaecht, a landscape painter. Rubens spent a short time in his studio, learning the basics of composing a landscape. These lessons would influence his work, including Prometheus Bound, as the backgrounds of many of his paintings play an important role in the composition. Rubens then apprenticed for four years with Adam van Noort, a portrait painter, known for painting mythological scenes with plentiful nudes and unrestrained images of Flemish life. Before starting his own studio, Rubens worked with Otto van Veen, from 1594 to 1598. Here, Rubens learned composition and the iconography of history painting, demonstrated in Prometheus Bound with the foreshortened figure positioned close to the viewer and the use of iconography derived from an ancient Greek play. In 1610, Rubens opened a studio of his own in Antwerp, while also serving as court painter to the Archduke and Archduchess in Brussels. In the same period as Prometheus Bound, Rubens was also painting The Descent from the Cross, a commissioned altarpiece. Collaboration with Frans Snyders After setting up his own studio, Peter Paul Rubens had many important commissions. He collaborated with artists that were regarded as masters in their field of study. For Prometheus Bound, Rubens collaborated with Frans Snyders, a master of animal and hunting scenes, for the eagle.