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Jacopo Tintoretto, 'The Origin of the Milky Way', about 1575

About the work

The god Jupiter wished to immortalise his infant son Hercules, whose mother was the mortal Alcmene, so he held him to the breast of his sleeping wife, the goddess Juno, to drink her milk. However, Juno woke. The milk which spurted upwards formed the Milky Way, while that which fell downwards gave rise to lilies.

Tintoretto’s painting has been cut down by about a third and what we see now is only the upper part of the original. In the missing lower part, known from a seventeenth-century copy, Ops, the embodiment of Earth and mother of Juno and Jupiter, reclines on a bank beside white flowers. The scene relates to a medal commemorating Tintoretto’s patron, the physician Tommaso Rangone. It is likely that the painting is also connected to Rangone; stars and flowers were both central to his learning.

Key facts

Full title
The Origin of the Milky Way
Artist
Jacopo Tintoretto
Artist dates
about 1518 - 1594
Date made
about 1575
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
149.4 × 168 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1890
Inventory number
NG1313
Location
Room 9
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
16th-century Venetian Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Jacopo Tintoretto

(Showing 6 of 7 works)
Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples
Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples
Jacopo Tintoretto
After supper with his disciples, Christ rose and began to wash their feet (John 13:2–17). When Peter refused to allow this, Christ replied that if Peter would not allow him to wash his feet then he had no place with him. Peter then asked Christ to wash his hands and head as well, but Christ said...
Room 9
Portrait of Vincenzo Morosini
Portrait of Vincenzo Morosini
Jacopo Tintoretto
Vincenzo Morosini (1511–1588) was a powerful Venetian official from one of the oldest, proudest and richest families of Venice. He was a Knight of the Golden Stole, a Venetian order of knighthood represented by the embroidered stole he wears over his shoulder.He observes us with a shrewd and slig...
Not on display
Saint George and the Dragon
Saint George and the Dragon
Jacopo Tintoretto
Saint George plunges his lance into the jaws of the dragon which, according to legend, inhabited the lake outside the city of Lydda in the Holy Land. He has arrived just in time to save the princess, who had been presented as a sacrifice to the creature. The dead body of one of the dragon’s earli...
Room 9
Jupiter and Semele
Jupiter and Semele
Possibly by Jacopo Tintoretto
The story of Jupiter and Semele is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The god Jupiter takes the mortal woman Semele as his mistress and makes her pregnant. When Jupiter’s wife, the goddess Juno, finds out, she disguises herself and suggests to Semele that her lover may not really be Jupiter. She tells...
Not on display
Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto
This portrait was purchased in 1855 from the Capello family, and is said to represent Pellegrina Morosini, who was from one of the oldest and most important families of sixteenth-century Venice. Pellegrina married Bartolomeo Capello in 1544 and had two children, Bianca and Vettor. She died some t...
Not on display
The Nativity
The Nativity
Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto
Mary and Joseph kneel before the baby Jesus, who sleeps wrapped in a woven basket of sticks and straw. Joseph, the elderly carpenter, touches his rough fingers together in prayer. He holds a stick like those from which the basket is made, and two knives in a sheath lie in his lap. Mary presses he...
Not on display
The Miracle of Saint Mark
The Miracle of Saint Mark
After Jacopo Tintoretto
A legend about Saint Mark tells how the servant of a knight of Provence disobeyed his master’s command that he was not to venerate the relics of Saint Mark, and was ordered to be stretched on the rack and have his legs broken. He lies naked on the ground surrounded by his torturers and a crowd of...
Not on display
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