A painting by Rubens

 

Rubens and studio, Jupiter and Mercury at the home of Philemon and Baucis, c1620-22

The Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum has no fewer than three paintings by Rubens on the subject of Philemon and Baucis. The one I am looking at here is probably the least well-known of the three, and indeed the gallery states it is by “Rubens and Studio” rather than entirely by Rubens. But for me it has a magical appeal.

The painting stands out because of its everyday, yet arresting, assembly of people. I don’t think this is just my response; when people are shown this picture, not in a gallery, but by itself, they are interested. They ask questions about it: who is it by? What is going on? It is a sign of the painting’s achievement that it makes people sit up and take notice. So, what is going on, and why is the picture worth looking at?

The story is from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Jupiter and Mercury are travelling the Earth in disguise, and the only people to offer them hospitality are a poor couple, with just one goose. Baucis catches the goose for supper, at which point Jupiter (on the left of the picture), reveals their identity. You can see the surroundings of the small house, with a single lamp. You see the elderly couple on the right, with Baucis caught in the capture of the goose. Overall, however, you would not describe the story as full of action.

For the artist, then, a pretty straightforward brief: four people meeting in a small room. Yet what catches the eye is the astonishing movement of the four figures in the painting. This is a painting in motion! The surroundings are cramped; we are almost squeezed into the same space as the actors themselves. The four figures comprise a kind of circle uniting them, with Mercury (wearing his hat) looking at Philemon, and Jupiter observing Baucis, who is catching the goose. Jupiter is seated, but looks incredibly tense, leaning back dramatically, with his right hand hovering over the goose, and his feet on tiptoe, not fully on the floor. He is wearing some kind of robe that reveals his muscular body as much as it hides it. You can see in a flash that this is no average country dweller.

Incidentally, the original story in Ovid states that Philemon and Baucis have no food in the house, so I don’t know where the inviting bowl of fruit that is seen on the table came from. They offer to cook themselves in the oven for their guests, another detail that this painting omits.

The look between Mercury and Philemon is especially intense, and seems to match the almost electric positions taken up by the actors. None of these people is relaxed. There is a kind of heightened reality about this moment  - it is very clear that the painting has captured a very precise and key moment in the story. All four actors are busy in some kind of motion, even Philemon, who does not appear to be speaking, but who must therefore be one of the most active listeners on the planet. He is concentrating fiercely on his conversation with Mercury.

So here is a small-scale scene, with none of the subject matter or grandeur usually associated with Rubens. Yet he brings to it such a Baroque swirl of movement that we, the viewers, are caught up in this magical, moving world, and for a brief moment we imagine ourselves right in the middle of this moving story. It shows how Rubens could bring the most mundane, everyday moment to life, and to immediacy.