The Feast of the Gods. The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis- Jan Brueghel the Elder
Summary: Sea Nymph Thetis, daughter of Nereus, and leader of Nereids was admired by both Poseidon and Zeus until they found out the prophecy. Her son will be greater than his father. So they decided to marry her off to a mortal king named Peleus as to avoid any danger. Peleus tracks down Thetis and does not release his grasp of her as she tries to shake him off by transforming into various of shapes, and it was soon enough that she would surrender to him and marry him. Zeus throws a huge feast to celebrate their marriage which is being illustrated in the painting.
Museum: Statens Museum for Kunst
Analyzation: Looking at this painting a lot is going on, but if we look closer and not focus on everything at once we can notice which god is which and little details that make this painting come together. Starting in the front left we can see Hebe bringing an amphora of likely wine. The small baby who is looking up at her is Eros which is notable by his wings, sash of arrows and the bow and in his hand. It also looks like he is playing in his fatherβs, Ares, armor.
The women and man on the start of the left side of the table who seemed to be a couple are likely Thetis and Peleus, and we can see Thetis doesnβt seem to happy and is talking (maybe venting?) as Peleus listens with an enamored look. The many women behind them and those deeper in the cave dancing are nymphs as they donβt have any symbolic objects or that suggest that they are a predominant deity.
Going down the left side of the table we can see more recognizable olympians, such as Hera and Hermes chatting and Demeter next to Hermes putting down a plate of lobster. In the hollow corner of the cave we can see Apollo and the muses playing music and a muse leaning down to who can be assumed as Artemis, and looking over her shoulder as if trying to see what she is reading. Next to Artemis we can see Athena who is looking over the feast.
Moving to the Font right of the painting we can see Poseidon looking down at who can be assumed the erotes who are causing chaos and you can see the some of them floating above. Poseidon is also sitting on some type of sea creature (maybe a crocodile or alligator) with his trident under it (possibly to protect it). Going down to the end of the right side of the table we c an finally see Aphrodite and Zeus talking, which Aphrodite seems to be pointing to Hera, maybe she is possibly giving some love advice to Zeus on how to make it up to Hera knowing their relationship.
Going outside of the cave we can see a couple nymphs out there lounging.
Other thoughts: When looking at this painting I tried to look for Eris as she was the only god not invited to the feast yet showed up with the golden apple, which would later trigger the Trojan war. But it seems here that sheβs not present or maybe she is and I dont see it. Besides that this painting was very cluttered and I decided to take on the challenge to figure out which god is which, and what is exactly going on in different parts of this painting during the feast, which was both fun and difficult.
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