Tyrian purple is a dye with a similar mystique and value (in antiquity) as the much later pigment ultramarine was to painters. I have been unable to locate an image of the latter painting, which is now in the Prado, in Madrid. Not only that, but Theodoor van Thulden (1606-1669, a resident of Bosch’s home town, ‘s-Hertogenbosch) did the same. Rubens, a well-educated and widely-read artist, must have come across a copy of Pollux in this Latin translation, and was inspired to paint his wonderful sketch of the story, shown above. Finally in 1541, a Latin translation was made, and its curious and frequently-false stories became accessible.
In around 1502, Aldus Manutius – pioneer Venetian publisher and scholar – resurrected and published Pollux’s book, which was re-issued in 1520, and again in 1536. He was a thoroughly unreliable historian, and only told this legend in passing in what should have been a thesaurus of Attic words and phrases. Pollux was an obscure Greek sophist, grammarian, and professor of rhetoric, who came from Egypt, but was appointed to the Academy in Athens, allegedly on account of his melodious voice. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Hercules and the Discovery of the Secret of Purple (detail) (c 1636), oil on panel, 28 × 34 cm, Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne, France. The dog-owner was Heracles (Hercules), the great hero of Greek and Roman myth. Wikimedia Commons.Īccording to Julius Pollux, writing in his Onomasticon in the second century CE, that is how the brilliant purple dye Tyrian purple was discovered. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Hercules and the Discovery of the Secret of Purple (c 1636), oil on panel, 28 × 34 cm, Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne, France. The dog’s owner looks carefully at the animal’s mouth, fearful that it is cut and bleeding, until he sees the colour, and it is obvious that the dog is unhurt. The dog is sniffing around the shells and other debris that have been washed up with the waves, and starts to eat one of the shells, as dogs do. A man, middle-aged, well-muscled, and wearing a lionskin, is walking his dog on a Mediterranean beach.
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