Reyer Jacobsz van Blommendael Paris and Oenone ca. 1655 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger Aeneas rescuing Anchises from burning Troy ca. 1605-1620 oil on panel Art Institute of Chicago |
Jacob van Campen Hercules defeating the Centaurs ca. 1645-50 oil on panel (grisaille) Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, Netherlands |
Jacob van Campen Hercules seizing Cerberus ca. 1645-50 oil on panel (grisaille) Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, Netherlands |
Hendrik Goltzius Minerva 1611 oil on canvas Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem |
Hendrik Goltzius Jupiter (in the guise of a Satyr) seducing Antiope 1612 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
Werner van den Valckert Neptune ca. 1619 oil on panel Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
Werner van den Valckert Aphrodite ca. 1619 oil on panel Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
Dirck van der Lisse Mercury and Argus in a Landscape ca. 1635 oil on copper Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
Paulus Bor Vertumnus and Pomona (Allegory of Summer) ca. 1630 oil on canvas Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull |
Adriaen van de Velde Vertumnus and Pomona 1670 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Dirck van der Lisse Sleeping Nymph ca. 1640-50 oil on panel Mauritshuis, The Hague |
Roelant Savery Orpheus set upon by Maenads ca. 1618-20 oil on panel Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht |
Roelant Savery Orpheus set upon by Maenads (detail) ca. 1618-20 oil on panel Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht |
Roelant Savery chooses (directly above) to relate the finale of the Orpheus myth in an oblique fashion. As a specialist in animal painting, Savery places a menagerie in the foreground, their presence justified by the ability of Orpheus to make music of such enchantment that it drew crowds of animals around him wherever he settled to play. Savery and others often illustrated the same theme with Orpheus seated in the center of the composition, as its focus, but in this case the viewer at first attempts in vain to locate the music-maker. In fact Orpheus is seated deep in the background, against the base of the ruinous tower. The leading Maenad is rushing toward him from the left, while the birds and animals nearest to him – including a camel, a trumpeting elephant, and a unicorn – are hurtling themselves out of the frame in terror. Certain foreground animals are just turning to look, while others have yet to notice the disturbance.