The Deception of Danaë: Rembrandt's Kwab Bedframe in his Danaë from 1636

Much ink, and even a little hydrochloric acid, has been spilled over Rembrandt's first life-size female nude, his striking Danaë from 1636. While he was not the first artist to paint the mythological princess, scholars have attributed the importance of Rembrandt’s contribution to this pictorial tradition to his ability to infuse the scene with psychic tension, a quality bolstered by his skillful rendering of the princess's lustrous skin as living, breathing flesh. Despite all of the expert analysis surrounding this painting, and perhaps because of the overwhelming quality of its figure, scholars have not yet explored the other major character in this scene: the lavish bedframe topped by a shackled cupid who seems to spring to life above Danaë’s head. Rembrandt designed this monumental piece of furniture based on a particular type of Dutch ornament called Kwab. Like Rembrandt bringing Danaë’s skin to life with his paint as she herself generates life through Jupiter's impregnation, the evasive line between art and life is thematized in Kwab design. The metallic decoration melts into itself, transforming from abstract, fleshy lobes into slithering anamorphic forms. There is an inherent disgust surrounding the suggestion that one is meant to handle objects decorated with these sly, slimy forms and their designs were titled “snakerijen”, a term for bawdy pranks. This paper analyzes the material makeup and design of this golden Kwab bedframe to reveal Rembrandt's unique interpretation of the Danaë scene through his exploration of the, at times equivocal, relationship between art, deceit, and life.