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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileafter Hendrick Goltzius
Apollo stands on the right holding the infant Aesculapius, presenting him to the wise centaur Chiron, who reaches out to receive his new pupil. In the background, a rustic wooden structure and other centaurs are visible, depicting the wild setting where the future god of medicine will be raised. The figures are rendered with the powerful, undulating musculature characteristic of the Dutch Mannerist style.
Chiron represents the 'Wise Centaur' archetype, a figure in Western esotericism who bridges the divide between animal nature and divine intellect through the teaching of music, medicine, and prophecy. Aesculapius, the child being handed over, is a foundational figure in the history of natural philosophy and the Hermetic tradition, where he appears as a primary interlocutor and recipient of sacred wisdom.
Insontem sobolem, nec sponte Coronide, Apollo Parte vivo tradit, parteq[ue] tradit equo. Chironis tandem, post dicta oracla, biformis Paulatim formam filia sumit equae.
Translation
Apollo delivers the innocent offspring, not by Coronis's own will, Partly he hands it over alive, and partly he hands it over in a horse. At last, after the spoken oracles of Chiron, the two-formed daughter Gradually takes on the shape of a mare.
Ovid, Metamorphoses
This engraving is part of a series illustrating Ovid's narrative of the life of Aesculapius and the prophecy of Chiron's daughter.
Hermetica
Aesculapius (Asclepius) is a central figure in the Corpus Hermeticum, often portrayed as the disciple of Hermes Trismegistus who receives revelations on the nature of the cosmos.
Object
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Engraving
mythological
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
National Gallery of Art
Public domain
3000 × 2096 px
97e15ee3977b7aae9565b1e256eca09d49441653
December 12, 2014
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.