# Alpheus and Arethusa

- By: Moses van Uyttenbroeck (Dutch, c. 1590-1648)
- Date: 1626
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 45 × 58 cm (17 3/4 × 22 7/8 in.); Framed: 45.1 × 57.8 × 6.4 cm (17 3/4 × 22 3/4 × 2 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Netherlands
- Credit line: Bequest of Donald and Carol Asher
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/257287)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/c65933a9e8cd74ec4c05701b189d790c.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This intimate painting depicts a scene from Ovid’s The Metamorphoses, an ancient Roman poem, in which the river god Alpheus menaces Arethusa, a nymph, as she bathes. Here, the hulking Alpheus climbs the riverbank in pursuit of the stout nymph, who looks back in fear as she flees. With his lush landscapes and unidealized figures, Uyttenbroeck belonged to the generation of artists who influenced the young Rembrandt van Rijn. Their work inspired the dramatic poses and gestures that Rembrandt adopted as a means of conveying emotion.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0