A fresco by Giorgio Vasari, painted with the assistance of Cristofano Gherardi around 1560 to 1564 in the Sala di Cosimo I of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, part of a larger decorative programme of mythological and allegorical scenes commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici. It illustrates the episode from Hesiod's Theogony in which Gaia, angered at her husband Uranus for imprisoning their children, gives their son Cronus (Saturn) an adamantine sickle and urges him to attack his father; the fresco shows Saturn wielding the sickle over a reclining, anguished Uranus, surrounded by attendant deities and personifications witnessing the act. The castration of Uranus was understood in the classical tradition as the moment that separated Sky from Earth and produced, from the god's severed member and the sea foam around it, the birth of Aphrodite.
Facts
Custody
Current LocationSourced to the subject's own accountSala di Cosimo I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy 1 Current CustodianSourced to the subject's own accountMusei Civici Fiorentini (Palazzo Vecchio) 1 Physical Form
MediumSourced to the subject's own account Origins
CreationSourced to the subject's own account CountrySourced to the subject's own account Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectSourced to the subject's own accountCronus (Saturn) castrating his father Uranus with a sickle, at the urging of Gaia, watched by attendant deities. 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own accountThis atlas describes and cites the fresco rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Aphrodite directly: "the sea foam around it, the birth of Aphrodite."
This source names Aphrodite directly: "the sea foam around it, the birth of Aphrodite."
This source names Cronus directly: "their children, gives their son Cronus (Saturn) an adamantine sickle and urges him to attack his father; the fresco shows Saturn wielding the sickle over a reclining, anguished Uranus, surrounded by..."
This source names Cronus directly: "their children, gives their son Cronus (Saturn) an adamantine sickle and urges him to attack his father; the fresco shows Saturn wielding the sickle over a reclining, anguished Uranus, surrounded by..."
This source names Florence directly: "di Cosimo I of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, part of a larger decorative programme of mythological and allegorical scenes commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici."
Gaia, Deities This source names Gaia directly: "It illustrates the episode from Hesiod's Theogony in which Gaia, angered at her husband Uranus for imprisoning their children, gives their son Cronus (Saturn) an adamantine sickle and urges him to..."
Gaia, Figures This source names Gaia directly: "It illustrates the episode from Hesiod's Theogony in which Gaia, angered at her husband Uranus for imprisoning their children, gives their son Cronus (Saturn) an adamantine sickle and urges him to..."
Depicts
Sources
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