Abduction of Europa (1632). Oil on panel. 70 x 78. The Abduction of Europa is Rembrandt's reinterpretation of the story, placed in a more contemporary setting. Rembrandt developed an interest in the classical world early in his life while in Amsterdam which was a growing business-oriented center, and where he found work with great success. During this time, the international High Baroque style was popular. Rembrandt did not complete many mythological subject paintings. Out of three hundred sixty completed works, five displayed tales from the Metamorphoses, five depicted goddesses, a Carthaginian queen, all of which only five represented myth subjects. Rembrandt occasionally used these mythological paintings as allegory, applying the tale to some Christian theme or a moral tradition. Jacques Specx, of the Dutch East India Company, commissioned Rembrandt to complete The Abduction of Europa. Specx had established a trading center in Japan in 1609, served as the Governor of Batavia, and later returned to Holland in 1633. The painting was in Specx's collection, along with five portraits, also by Rembrandt. The subject and its allegorical meaning are described by the Flemish art theorist, Karel van Mander, in Het schilder-boeck. Rembrandt The book was produced in Amsterdam and included details about many Netherlands painters. Rembrandt surely would have familiarized himself with van Mander's theories and interpretations of Ovid's myths. Van Mander commented on Europa's abduction, with a European spin to it. Ovid's account of the abduction of Europa is found in Book II 833-75 of Metamorphoses. Europa is a princess of Tyre, who is playing with her court on the coast when a beautiful bull appears. Europa mounts the bull, which quickly whisks her away into the ocean. When Europa and her friends notice the bull retreating further into the sea without coming back, the bull transforms into Zeus and carries her to Mount Olympus on the island of Crete. Rembrandt's painting is set just as Europa is whisked away, as seen by the bull and young lady in the ocean in the painting. Art historians, like Mariet Westermann and Gary Schwartz interpret the painting as a reference to Specx' career. The painting includes details from Ovid's story that strengthen the location of the tale as well as tie it to Specx' life. The African driver and non-European coach in the shadows to the right allude to the exotic Phoenician coast. There is a port in the background, a reference to the busy port of the Tyre. Karel van Mander looked for an applicable meaning to the work that constructed a moral concept to the classical literature. He quoted an unnamed ancient source that stated that the abducted princess was representative of the human soul, borne by the body through the troubled sea of this world. Van Mander theorized that the bull, which is Zeus in the classical tale, is really the name of a ship that bore Europa from her eastern home of Tyre to the western continent that adopts her name. The literary comments of van Mander are essential to deconstructing the allegorical subject of Europa. In the story, Zeus whisks Europa away to Crete. In van Mander's interpretation, she is moved by ship to Crete. Just as Specx's career was to move treasures of Asia to Europe by ship, so too is Europa moved from her Eastern home to Europe. Rembrandt's familiarity with the literary and classical nature of the story is evident by the bull as both god and ship, and the harbor installation in the background. The harbor is representative of the busy trading ports in both Tyre and Europe. The portrayal of Tyre, though, seems fairly modern with the inclusion of a crane, a tool which did not exist in the first century when Ovid was alive. This detail strengthens the parallel between Tyre and the Dutch ports, as Rembrandt attempts to connect the story to Specx's livelihood. The relationship also alludes to Europa's impending new destination, where she will give Europe her name. Most scholars agree that this narrative was chosen specifically by Rembrandt to reinterpret and mirror Specx's career. Artistically, The Abduction of Europa reflects the attitudes and interests of Rembrandt and other Dutch painters during the early to mid seventeenth century. The work embodies the international High Baroque with dramatic lighting coming from the left and the high drama in the moment of abduction. This style was popular in Leiden, his birth town. The High Baroque was also present in the Ruben's work that Rembrandt studied. The idyllic shore and the detailed reflections in the water show the growing interest in naturalism in art. Naturalism plays a strong part in other aspects of the piece. Rembrandt contrasts the dark trees against the light blues and pinks skies. Rembrandt also uses light to further dramatize the piece, as seen by the glittering of gold on the dresses and carriages.