Saturn (Rubens)

High school (ages 12+)
Art & Creativity

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/saturn--rubens-

1. What is the artwork title?
2. What is the artist?
3. What is the painting 'Saturn Devouring His Son' about?
4. Why does the painting show Saturn biting his child instead of swallowing him?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the artwork title?Saturn or Saturn Devouring His Son
2. What is the artist?Peter Paul Rubens
3. What is the painting 'Saturn Devouring His Son' about?It shows the Greek myth of the titan Cronus, also called Saturn, eating one of his children to stop a prophecy. The scene is dramatic and shows fear and danger.
4. Why does the painting show Saturn biting his child instead of swallowing him?Rubens chose to show Saturn with a wide open mouth, biting the child, to make the horror and desperation of the myth even clearer.

Baroque: An artistic style characterized by drama, grandeur, and intense emotion, popular in the 17th century.
Chiaroscuro: The use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.
Foreshortening: A technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding strongly into the distance or background.