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| The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus | |
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| Artist | Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Wildens |
| Year | c. 1618 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 224 cm × 209 cm (88 in × 82 in) |
| Location | Alte Pinakothek,Munich |
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus is a 1618 painting byPeter Paul Rubens andJan Wildens. It is displayed at theAlte Pinakothek inMunich.
The painting was bought inAntwerp in 1716 byJohann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. Initially sent toMannheim, by 1805/06 it had reached Munich.
The landscape specialist Jan Wildens painted the landscape.
The painting depicts the mortalCastor and the immortalPollux abductingPhoebe andHilaeira, daughters ofLeucippus of Messenia. Castor the horse-tamer is recognisable from his armour, whilst Pollux the boxer is shown with a bare and free upper body. They are also distinguished by their horses—Castor's is well-behaved and supported by aputto, whereas Pollux's is rearing. The putto's black wing shows the twins' ultimate fate.
In the painting, Phoebe and Hilaeira do not have distinguishing attributes. From the literature on Greek myths, however, we learn that Phoebe bore a son, Mnesleos, to Pollux, and Hilaeira bore a son, Anogon, to Castor. It would seem therefore, from the directions of the twins' fixed stares, that the daughter in the lower position, with her back to us, is Phoebe, and the daughter in the upper position, displaying a frontal view, is Hilaeira.
