Arion Rescued by a Dolphin

between 1655 and 1660

Artus Quellinus Flemish, 1609-1668

On View

Dutch Golden Age, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

The most influential sculptor in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century, Quellinus received prestigious commissions for the sculptural decorations for Amsterdam's City Hall, now the Royal Palace. He created this unique modeled terracotta as a preliminary study for a carved marble relief depicting the myth of poet and musician Arion of Methymna. Kidnapped and thrown overboard by pirates, Arion played music to his rescuer - a dolphin - as he was carried to Corinth.

Some interpret this narrative as an allegory of the rescue of the Dutch Republic by William of Orange who established the Netherlands as its own sovereign republic, independent of the Spanish Habsburg Empire.

Title Arion Rescued by a Dolphin

Artwork Date between 1655 and 1660

Artist Artus Quellinus

Life Dates 1609-1668

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Flemish

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Terracotta modello

Dimensions Overall: 14 × 24 × 3 inches (35.6 × 61 × 7.6 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Museum Purchase, funds from the Robert H. Tannahill Foundation, the Joseph H. Parsons Fund and the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts in honor of Graham W.J. Beal

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2015.64

Markings

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Provenance

(David Bridgwater, Bath, United Kingdom, and Jonathon Barton, Cirencester, United Kingdom);
2015-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Darr, Alan Phipps, Yao-Fen You, and Megan Reddicks. “Recent Acquisitions (2007-15) of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts.” The Burlington Magazine 158 (June 2016): pp. 501-512; p. 505 (ill.).

Scholten, Frits. “Quenllinus’s Arion: A Terracotta Modello for the Town Hall of Amsterdam.” Bulletin of the DIA 90, no. 1/4 (2016): pp. 32-43, (cover ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Artus Quellinus, Arion Rescued by a Dolphin, between 1655 and 1660, terracotta modello. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, funds from the Robert H. Tannahill Foundation, the Joseph H. Parsons Fund and the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts in honor of Graham W.J. Beal, 2015.64.