Rembrandt painted Danae in 1636, but a decade later he made a number of changes to the work. Among other things, the artist almost completely repainted the main figure of the mythological Greek princess. The painting's unusual iconography presents the young woman bathed in a flood of golden light (according to the myth, Zeus appeared to her in the form of golden rain). It seems that Danae herself is glowing too. The sensual character of the love scene is conveyed with amazing painterly force and psychological authenticity. Artists from Classical Antiquity onwards have drawn on the legend of this union that produced Perseus. Other great painters who tackled the subject include the Italians Correggio and Titian and the Flemish artist Jan Gossaert. It is however in Rembrandt's interpretation that the myth acquired exceptional depth, while the depiction of the naked female figure, so bold in the context of Dutch 17th-century art, is still perceived today as one of the most beautiful and striking phenomena in the history of painting. Danae was acquired for the Hermitage by Catherine II in 1772 as part of the famous Crozat collection in France.
Barbarously disfigured in 1985, the painting has been brought back to life by the skills of the Hermitage restorers.