{{Short description|Painting by Dirck van Baburen}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file = Prometheus door Vulcanus geketend, SK-A-1606.jpg | caption = | painting_alignment = | image_size = 300px | title = Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan | alt = | other_language_1 = | other_title_1 = | other_language_2 = | other_title_2 = | artist = Dirck van Baburen | year = {{start date|1623}} <!--remove date template if before 1583 CE --> | medium = Oil on canvas | material = | height_metric = 202 | width_metric = 184 | length_metric = | height_imperial = | width_imperial = | length_imperial = | diameter_metric = | diameter_imperial = | dimensions = | metric_unit = cm<!--don't leave this parameter blank—either don't include it, or include the default cm. Not including it will default it to cm.--> | imperial_unit = in<!--don't leave this parameter blank—either don't include it, or include the default in. Not including it will default it to in.--> | city = Amsterdam | museum = Rijksmuseum | coordinates = <!-- Only use for the exact coordinates of the artwork itself (and only where known) and not for the coordinates of the museum. Leave blank if coordinates are not known. --> | owner = }} '''''Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan''''' is an oil painting of 1623 by Dirck van Baburen of the Utrecht School, and an example of Baroque chiaroscuro.
The painting represents a tale from Greco-Roman mythology. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, watches the club-footed blacksmith god, Vulcan, punish the bold and cunning Titan Prometheus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Prometheus's punishment is to be bound to a rock and to have his liver consumed daily by an eagle, which appears partially at the top left.
The painting mysteriously has two signatures: the first is a clear signature below the right-hand shoulder of Prometheus. During a restoration of the painting, a second signature was discovered at the lower left by his hand.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}
In some versions of a Greek creation myth, Prometheus forges humans from clay and the stolen fire brings them to life. A painting, ''Adam and Eve'', also by Baburen, was sold at auction in 1707 together with the ''Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan'', and one might conjecture that the two works formed a pair, both being illustrations of creation.<ref>{{cite web|title='Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan' on the Rijksmuseum site|url=http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/SK-A-1606?page=4&lang=en&context_space=aria_catalogs&context_id=Term_00026116_en|accessdate=21 April 2011}}</ref><ref>Lilian H. Zirpolo, ''Historical Dictionary of Baroque Art and Architecture'', London, Rowman & Littlefield, 2nd edition, 2018, p. 90</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prometheus Being Chained By Vulcan}} Category:Paintings by Dirck van Baburen Category:1623 paintings Category:Paintings in the Rijksmuseum Category:Paintings of Greek myths Category:Prometheus Category:Torture in art Category:Paintings of Vulcan (mythology) Category:Oil paintings on canvas
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