Dosso Dossi, Jupiter Painting Butterflies, Alfonso I d’Este, Ferrara, Renaissance art, Italian Renaissance, Este court, Belvedere, otium, negotium, Leon Battista Alberti, Virtus, Lucian, Mercury, Ju

Dosso Dossi’s ‘Jupiter Painting Butterflies’: Painting, Otium and Princely Identity

Alberti, Lucian and the Transformation of a Story Dosso Dossi’s painting begins with an improbable occupation for the ruler of the gods. Jupiter sits before an easel, palette, brushes and mahlstick in hand, while butterflies appear on the blue surface before him. His thunderbolts lie unused at his feet. Mercury, seated beside him on theContinue reading “Dosso Dossi’s ‘Jupiter Painting Butterflies’: Painting, Otium and Princely Identity”