# Danaë

**Orazio Gentileschi** (Italian, 1563–1639)  
c. 1623  
oil on canvas  
Framed: 202.5 x 270 x 9 cm (79 3/4 x 106 5/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 162 x 228.5 cm (63 3/4 x 89 15/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1971.101. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1971.101).

## About this work

Danaë’s father feared a prophecy that his grandson would kill him, so he imprisoned his daughter to protect her from suitors. Yet Jupiter, king of the gods, fell in love with Danaë, and he came to her in the form of gold streaming from the sky. Gentileschi adopted Caravaggio’s method of painting directly from models, pulled to the front of the picture plane, which gives the painting a startling, tangible quality. However, the graceful way he handled paint and human gestures lends the work a poetic quality unique to the artist.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Orazio Gentileschi painted this in about 1623, aged about 55. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Orazio Gentileschi](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/orazio-gentileschi)

Italian, 1563–1639

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Italy
- The artist was about 55
- Real size: about 64 × 90 in (162 × 229 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Movement: [Baroque](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/baroque)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/678.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/678/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/danae-cma-145463).