File:Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Varotari Alessandro, Europa e il toro.jpg

The Istituto Bancario Italiano bought this painting together with the rest of the Banca Romana collection in 1967. It was restored by Benigni in Bergamo in 1991.

The attribution to Padovanino from the Veneto region was confirmed by Fabrizio Magani in 1995 and is justified on stylistic grounds. Despite his exposure to the Caravaggio and Carracci-inspired innovations of the early 17th century during a period spent in Rome, the painter remained faithful throughout his career to a classical vocabulary connected with the 16th-century Venetian tradition stretching from the young Titian, whose presence in Padua is documented by the frescoes in the School of Sant’Antionio, to Palma the Younger. The canvas presents the characteristic elements of Varotari’s art, including a gentle depiction of figures devoid of pathos and a taste for ornamentation (the pearls in the nymph’s hair, the “ancient-style” footwear, the floral garland, and Love’s quiver of arrows with its cloth strap).

Particular similarities can be found in the figure of the god in Love with his Bow (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), the hair in The Three Graces with Putti in the Hermitage [1], and the face in Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi (private collection).

These elements make it possible to suggest a dating of 1635–45, which would mean that the work belongs to the period of the artist’s maturity.

The subject depicted is less frequent than the very common episode of Europa being carried off by Zeus in disguise. According to the myth, the god noted the beauty of the young daughter of the king of the Phoenicians and turned himself into a placid bull in the meadow where Europa and her handmaidens went to pick flowers and weave garlands. The girl made a great fuss of the animal and, deceived by its apparent gentleness, climbed onto its back, whereupon the bull made off at full speed. On arriving in Crete, Zeus revealed his true nature and the fruit of their union was Minos. In accordance with his sedate depiction of mythological episodes, Padovanino offers a faithful depiction of the scene just before it reaches its decisive turning point.