Joachim Witwael

The Dutch artist Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638) was a history painter especially admired for his astonishing small paintings on copper. The Getty's Museum's Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan is one of his finest works in this unusually demanding medium. Though only eight inches high, this Mannerist paintings contains eleven figures in three different spaces, captured in a dramatically complex moment from the famous story told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. Another contribution to the Getty Museum Studies on Art series, this book features a discussion of Wtewael's painting as well as a detailed analysis of the broader context in which the work was created.