Sisyphus

The Italian baroque paintings of Langetti and Zanchi make a fine pair. Not only do they have similar formats, painting styles and pronounced contrasts between areas of light and shade, but their subject matters have much in common too: both feature mythological male figures condemned to centuries of punishment. One shows Tityus, whose liver was eternally pecked at by a vulture. The other shows Sisyphus, who was forced to roll a stone up a hill for eternity, only to watch it roll back down again whenever he neared the top.

Both these paintings once belonged to the Dukes of Mantua. William I acquired them for the Mauritshuis in 1831.