Danaë (Annibale Carracci)

Danaë was a 1600-1605 oil on canvas painting by Annibale Carraci, destroyed during World War II.

[1] Its attribution is accepted by all art historians except Hans Tietze (1880 – 1954) and Donald Posner (1931 – 2005), with the former proposing Domenichino and the latter to Francesco Albani.

According to Giovanni Pietro Bellori's 1672 Vite de' pittori, scultori e architetti moderni and Scannelli's 1657 Il microcosmo della pittura, Christina of Sweden admired the work on a visit to Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili's collections and in 1652 he gave it to her.

Like much of the Orléans Collection it was acquired by an English collector and later entered Bridgewater House in London, where it and other Carracci works such as Lamentation were destroyed by bombing in 1941.

Victoria Markova in her 2024 book suggest that copy was made by nephew of Annibale - Antonio Carracci and gives its colour reproduction.