Danae

Imprisoned by her father to keep her childless, Danae reclines nude as Zeus pours himself down as a shower of gold, the coins glinting in a burst of cloud while an old nurse scrambles to catch them in her apron (Ovid, Metamorphoses). Titian made several versions of the subject; this one, painted for Philip II, pairs with his Venus and Adonis, also in this collection, as part of the poesie. The contrast is the point - the nurse's greedy, withered haste set against the smooth, golden ease of the young woman's body, mortal grasping beside divine seduction.