Niobe sampt iren Kindern wirdt umbgebracht

Title

Niobe sampt iren Kindern wirdt umbgebracht

Period

1550-1600;

Geographic

Ancient Greece

Thebes

Description

This image illustrates the goddess Diana and her twin brother Phoebus in the clouds with bows in their hands as they shoot arrows down to Earth. Diana and Phoebus are shooting and killing the fourteen children of Niobe as she had declared herself better than Latona, the daughter of Titans. Niobe boasted about having fourteen children as opposed to Latona who only had two. Latona ordered her children Diana and Phoebus to shoot down every single one of Niobe’s children as punishment for hubris. Niobe is illustrated in the chaos with her hands raised in the air with a crown on her head, as she watches her children get shot with arrows.

Image Creator

Virgil Solis (Engraver)

Type

Text

Woodcut Engraving

Identifier

mta:21937

Language

ger

Source Name

P. Ouidij Nasonis, deß Sinnreichen und hochverstendigen Poeten, Metamorphoses oder Verwandlung, mit schönen figuren gezieret, auch kurzen Argumenten und außlegungen erkläret, und in Teutsche Reymen gebracht, durch Johann Spreng von Augspurg [Publius Ovidius Naso, the Ingenious and Highly Understandable Poet, Metamorphoses or Transformations, Adorned with Beautiful Images, and also descriptions of Short Arguments and Explanations, Brought into German Rhymes by Johann Spreng of Augsburg]

Parent Collection

1564 Frankfurt Spreng

Image

mta_21937_OBJ.jpg

Collection

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Subject

Roman Mythology

Greek Mythology

Gods

Goddesses

Phoebus

Latona

Diana

Hubris

Niobe