#denae

The story is a famous and popular one in painting. It is briefly referred to in Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book IV, lines 610-11. Danaë’s father locked her in a tower to keep away suitors, because it had been foretold that he would be killed by his daughter’s son. Jupiter visited her in a shower of gold, and Danaë bore Perseus, who accidently killed his grandfather. Titian produced several versions of the subject, at least one of which was engraved at an early date, and this probably exercised an influence on Gennari. The detail of the old woman greedily trying to catch the coins, for example, seems to derive from Titian.

In the 1870s Burne-Jones and his friend the designer, poet, and socialist William Morris collaborated on illustrations for Morris’s The Earthly Paradise (1868–70). The epic poem, composed of mythological tales from ancient and Nordic sources, served as an inspiration for Burne-Jones throughout his life. The story of Danaë is taken from the chapter “The Doom of King Acrisius.” Fearful of an oracle’s warning that he would die by the hand of his grandson, as yet unborn, the king built a tower “wrought of brass most cunningly” in which to imprison his daughter, Danaë. The god Zeus breached her “living tomb” and impregnated Danaë in a shower of gold; later her son, Perseus, unwittingly slew his grandfather. Here Danaë, already seemingly incarcerated in the narrow courtyard, watches the construction of her prison, her future foreshadowed by the rosebush whose blooms are confined in a cage.

Denae @ Guy Laroche Spring/Summer, 1988 Haute Couture

Denae @ Guy Laroche Spring/Summer, 1988 Haute Couture

Denae @ Guy Laroche Spring/Summer, 1988 Haute Couture

Katarina & Denae @ Emanuel Ungaro Spring/Summer, 1988 Haute Couture

In every poorly spoken language, you are in denial.

Denae @ Emanuel Ungaro Spring/Summer, 1989 Ready-to-Wear