The so-called loves of Jupiter are the subject of a tapestry woven by the skilful Arachne, the central character at the heart of a myth concerning artistic creation: ‘Arachne was famous not because of class or lineage, but because she was an artist’, writes Ovid, who praises her remarkable craftsmanship and likens the art of weaving to the art of painting. But the young woman challenges Minerva, the goddess of weaving.
The painting by Tintoretto displayed here was once part of the Florentine collection of Alessandro and Vittoria Contini Bonacossi and is currently housed in the Uffizi Gallery. Its distinctive bottom-up perspective suggests that it may have originally been a part of the ceiling decoration in the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose in Venice.
The work represents the challenge between Arachne and Minerva. Ovid writes: ‘Pallas (Minerva) depicts the hill of Mars where Jupiter, with a grave and majestic air, sits with the gods of Olympus on high thrones and in the corners of the cloth she adds the stories of those who had defied the gods by committing the sin of pride.
Arachne, on the other hand, depicts the violence on the young nymphs at the hands of the gods: ‘Europa deceived by the false form of the bull (…) Leda lying under the wings of the swan, Jupiter turned to gold deceives Danae’.
The result of the contest is described figuratively by Ovid, who praises Arachne: “Not even Pallas, not even Jealousy could find anything to criticise in that work. The blonde warrior goddess was appalled and tore to shreds the tapestry that illustrated in colour the faults of the gods”. Unable to accept her defeat, an enraged Minerva punished Arachne’s pride by transforming her into a spider.