Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto

Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597) is a painting by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It is located in the casino of the Villa Ludovisi, Rome. It is unusually painted in oils on plaster. Oil painting is normally on canvas or, less frequently, on wood.

According to an early biographer, one of Caravaggio's aims was to discredit critics who claimed that he had no grasp of perspective. The three figures demonstrate the most dramatic foreshortening imaginable. They contradict claims that Caravaggio always painted from live models.

The painting was done for Caravaggio's patron Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte and painted on the ceiling of the cardinal's garden villa at porta Pinciana, where the cardinal dabbled in alchemy. Caravaggio has painted an allegory of the alchemical triad of Paracelsus: Jupiter stands for sulphur and air, Neptune for mercury and water, and Pluto for salt and earth. Each figure is identified by his beast: Jupiter by the eagle, Neptune by the hippocamp, and Pluto by the three-headed dog Cerberus. Jupiter is reaching out to move the celestial sphere in which the Sun revolves around the Earth. Galileo was a friend of Del Monte but had yet to make his mark on cosmology.

Works by Caravaggio
1593–1594
  • Boy Peeling Fruit (c. 1592)
  • Young Sick Bacchus (c. 1593)
  • Boy with a Basket of Fruit
  • The Fortune Teller (Buona ventura) (c. 1594)
  • Cardsharps (I bari) (c. 1594)
1595–1599
Del Monte paintings
  • The Musicians (c. 1595)
  • Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595)
  • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1596)
  • The Lute Player (c. 1596)
  • Bacchus (c. 1596)
  • Penitent Magdalene (c. 1597)
  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c. 1597)
  • Medusa (c. 1597)
  • Portrait of a Courtesan (Fillide Melandroni) (c. 1597)
  • Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (c. 1597)
  • Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1598)
  • The Sacrifice of Isaac (Princeton version) (c. 1598)
  • John the Baptist (c. 1598)
  • Martha and Mary Magdalene (c. 1598)
  • Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1598)
  • Basket of Fruit (c. 1599)
  • Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1599)
  • David and Goliath (c. 1599)
  • Narcissus (c. 1599)
1600–1606
Most famous
painter in Rome
  • The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
  • The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600)
  • The Conversion of Saint Paul (1600)
  • The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601)
  • The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus (1601)
  • Supper at Emmaus (London) (1601)
  • The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew
  • Amor Victorious (1602)
  • Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602)
  • The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)
  • The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (c. 1602)
  • The Taking of Christ (1602)
  • The Entombment of Christ (c. 1603)
  • Madonna of Loreto (Madonna dei Pellegrini, Pilgrims' Madonna) (c. 1604)
  • The Crowning with Thorns (Prato) (1604)
  • The Death of the Virgin (1604)
  • Saint Francis in Meditation (c. 1603)
  • Christ on the Mount of Olives (1605)
  • Ecce Homo (c. 1605)
  • Saint Jerome in Meditation (c. 1605)
  • Saint Jerome Writing (Borghese) (c. 1605)
  • Portrait of Pope Paul V (1605)
  • Still Life with Fruit (1605)
  • Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Madonna de Palafrenieri, Grooms' Madonna) (1606)
1606–1608
Naples and Malta
  • Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606)
  • Saint Francis in Prayer (Cremona) (1606)
  • Supper at Emmaus (Milan) (1606)
  • The Seven Works of Mercy (1606)
  • The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (1607)
  • David with the Head of Goliath (Vienna) (1607)
  • Madonna of the Rosary (1607)
  • The Crowning with Thorns (Vienna) (1607)
  • The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1607)
  • Christ at the Column (c. 1607)
  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (London) (c. 1607)
  • Saint Jerome Writing (Valletta) (1607)
  • Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page (1607–1608)
  • Portrait of Fra Antionio Martelli (1608)
  • The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608)
  • Sleeping Cupid (1608)
1608–1610
Sicily and Naples
  • The Annunciation (1608)
  • Burial of St. Lucy (1608)
  • The Raising of Lazarus (1609)
  • Adoration of the Shepherds (1609)
  • Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (1609)
  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid) (1609)
  • Denial of Saint Peter (1610)
  • The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610)
  • David with the Head of Goliath (1610)
Paintings attributed to Caravaggio

Famous quotes containing the word neptune:

    “His nature is too noble for the world;
    He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
    Or Jove for’s power to thunder.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)