Josef Müllner

JOSEF MÜLLNER (Vienna, 1879 - 1968).
"Rape of Hippodamia".
Patinated bronze.
Signed.
Presents some wear in the patina.
Measurements: 92 x 53 x 32 cm.

The splendid sculpture that we now bid represents the convulsive moment in which the centaur Eurito abducts Hippodamia the day of her wedding with Pirito. This is how Ovid narrates it in the Metamorphoses in Book XII (210-335:) "(...) For you, the most bestial of the bestials, Eurytus, your heart burned both for the wine and for the sight of the bride, and a drunkenness reigned that doubled lust. Suddenly the tables are overturned and sow confusion at the banquet and the newlywed is forcibly abducted, seized by the hair. Éurito takes Hippodame, the others the one that each one liked or could: vivid picture of the plundering of a city. The house is filled with women's screams (...)".

Josef Müllner's work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Among his students were, among others, Rudolf Schmidt and Bruno Zach.