School of the Veneto, 17th Century

Private collection, Ohio.

This work depicts the story of Pan and Syrinx, derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses. As the beautiful nymph Syrinx is attempting to escape the embrace of the madly enamored Pan, she is saved by her sister water nymphs by being turned into marsh reeds. As these swayed in the wind before the angered Pan, they produced a delicate sound. Enchanted by this, the god bound seven of the reeds together to create the first panpipe which he named after Syrinx. This instrument still bears the nymph's name today.

The composition of this work, characterised by the river reeds framing the figures, is comparable to a work by Giulio Carpioni sold in 2019.¹ The compositional similarities between the two suggest that the artist who painted the present work must have been aware of Carpioni's work. Moreover, several versions of this subject, datable to the second half of the 17th century, are recorded in Giuseppe Maria Pilo's monograph on the artist.²

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¹ Anonymous sale ('Property from of European Noble Family'), London, Christie's, 4 December 2019, lot 247; https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6237937

² G.M. Pilo, Carpioni, Venice 1961, pp. 102 and 105, reproduced figs 157 and 181.