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The Fall of the Titans
Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (Dutch, 1562–1638)
1588-1590
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 239 cm, width 307 cm, height 259.3 cm, width 227.6 cm
- Culture
- Dutch
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed
SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark is not answering just now; this work's record is kept here.
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
In his Schilder-Boeck (Book on Picturing) from 1604, the art theoretician Karel van Mander writes about this painting: ‘I cannot sufficiently express what excellent observation is achieved in all the various poses of the nudes, and it is a pity that such works are not to be seen in a public place.’ According to van Mander, the painting was then part of a private collection in Amsterdam. The painting occupies a significant position in the history of the SMK collection. It was purchased by King Christian IV in 1621 and listed in one of the first inventories of the Royal Danish Kunstkammer in 1690, where it was catalogued as ‘A large painting (…) about the giants who were cast down from heaven’. In 1824, the Kunstkammer was dissolved and the painting relocated. It was not until 1922 that the painting was exhibited for the first time as part of the SMK collection. It took over three centuries for van Mander’s wish to be finally fulfilled (50 Favorites in the SMK Collection).
