The Abduction of Europa

Jean-Francois de Troy (1679-1752) was a French painter known for his mythological subjects and tableaux de mode—scenes of fashionable society in the Rococo manner that distinguish the best French painting of the early 18th century. The Abduction of Europa from 1716 depicts the mythological episode in which Zeus, in the form of a bull, carries off the Phoenician princess Europa across the sea in the elegant, Rococo manner that de Troy was developing in the early 18th century. The 1716 date places this in de Troy's early maturity, when he was producing the mythological subjects that would lead to the tableaux de mode of his later career.

The Abduction of Europa is important in de Troy's early development because it demonstrates the elegant, Rococo manner that he was developing in the early 18th century. The 1716 mythological subject shows de Troy developing the elegant manner that would lead to the tableaux de mode—scenes of fashionable society—that are his most distinctive contribution to French painting.

The Abduction of Europa is de Troy's mythological Rococo developing: Zeus abducting Europa in the elegant manner that he was developing in the early 18th century before his later tableaux de mode. The 1716 painting shows the mythological subject from which de Troy's elegant, fashionable manner would emerge.