FLEMISH SCHOOL

(17th Century)

THE MUSIC CONTEST BETWEEN APOLLO AND PAN

Oil on Copper

19 x 25¼ Inches

 

Provenance: Austin Hills estate, San Francisco.

Displayed in an antique, carved wood ebonised frame with gilded and figured liner.

Framed dimensions: 25¼ H x 2 D x 31¼ W inches

 

The figure of Apollo is shown holding his traditional seven-string lyre and bathed in celestial light as an angelic, winged figure crowns him with the laurel-wreath of victory. Tmolus, who was asked to judge the competition, is seated in the center. Seated beside Tmolus, Pan plays upon his pipes. Midas, king of Phrygia, who disputed the judge's decision is shown with the donkey's ears he has received from Apollo as punishment for his insolence.

 

The female figures framing the composition on the left are Muses and, on the right, we can see Pan's escorts, satyrs and nymphs. Apollo was the leader of the Muses, who were the patron goddesses of literature, science and arts: Erato (Muse of love poetry and lyric poetry); Terpsichore (Muse of dance); Thalia (Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry); Urania (Muse of astronomy); Euterpe (Muse of flutes and music); Clio (Muse of history); Calliope (Muse of epic poetry); Polymnia (Muse of sacred poetry) and Melpomene (Muse of tragedy). Hermes, the father of Pan, holds his Caduceus and sits in the clouds above the Muses. In the right foreground, the river god, Pactolus, rests against a large shell. Pactolus rises from Mount Tmolus in Lydia, Turkey and, in antiquity, the river was known for its sedimentary electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold, which has imparted its color to the huge shell that he rests against.

 

The Greek myth of the musical contest between Apollo and Pan is narrated in the “Metamorphoses” by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC – 18 AD), a compilation of 250 Classical Greek myths written in Latin verses. Ovid's work was translated into Dutch and published in 1604 by Karel van Mander (1548 – 1606), a Flemish-born Dutch painter, writer and art theorist. It inspired many literary and artistic works of the Late Northern Renaissance.