Italian school; end of the XVII century.

Italian school; late seventeenth century.
"Apollo and Coronis".
Oil on canvas. Relined from the 19th century.
It has frame of the nineteenth century:
Measurements: 105 x 132 cm; 118 x 143 cm (frame).
According to Ovid, there was a time when the raven, once white and resplendent as snow, underwent a transformation that condemned it to wear black plumage. This bird, once as clear as the purest pigeons or even the snowiest geese, lost its original color because of its loquacious nature. It is said that his verbosity and boldness led him to disgrace.
At the time, Coronis, a native of Larissa, was considered the most beautiful young woman in all of Hemonia. Apollo had fallen deeply in love with her, and all went well as long as the young woman maintained her purity or her relationship with the god was kept secret. However, the raven discovered Coronis' infidelity with a man named Ischis, and without delay brought the news to the god.
Apollo, who already harbored certain doubts, was indignant upon hearing the raven, whom he condemned as the bearer of bad tidings. Filled with rage, he went to the place where Coronis lay with his lover, and in a fit of fury shot an arrow through them, killing Ischis on the spot. Coronis, on the verge of death, revealed to Apollo that in her womb she was carrying his child.
Moved by the revelation, the god tried to save her using his healing gifts, but fate did not allow him to succeed. Overcome by fate, Apollo organized the funeral rites and prepared the pyre to burn the bodies. Before the flames consumed the body of Coronis, he rescued the child from her womb and entrusted it to the centaur Chiron, who would be in charge of its upbringing until the time came for Asclepius, son of the god, to fulfill his destiny.