This dimly lit painting, made between 1750–1780 by an unknown artist, features the ancient Greek mythological figure, Orpheus, a powerful demigod musician who had the power to entrance seemingly everything in creation with his music. His early life was sociable and adventurous, with the musical hero even going so far as to join the famous Argonauts expedition alongside famous figures like Heracles. Orpheus later fell in love with the nymph, Eurydice, and began to settle down. Theirs was true love, and the pair decided to get married. Their happy relationship turned out to be unfairly short, however, for Eurydice tragically died around the time of the wedding. Grief-stricken Orpheus ventured into the underworld and made a pact with the death god, Hades, in order to bring Eurydice back to the land of the living. Yet, Orpheus carelessly broke the terms of the deal before his wife was fully resurrected, causing the musician to traumatically be forced to watch Eurydice be dragged back to the realm of the dead. After losing his wife for this second time, Orpheus recoiled into depressed seclusion and became a hermit, seemingly shunning all contact with anything besides the flora and fauna of nature. The Roman poet, Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE) envisioned Orpheus’ lonesome late-life existence in his poem, Metamorphoses, describing the gloomy bard serenading the trees and wildlife with his music. In book 10 of his poem, Ovid wrote, “Such was the shady cluster of trees which Orpheus attracted, sitting amidst a crowded assembly of birds and of beasts” and again in Book 11, he stated, “With songs such as these the Thracian minstrel bewitched the forests, entranced the beasts and compelled the rocks to follow behind him” (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.143-144 and 11.1-2). It is this imagery of despondent Orpheus performing before an enraptured audience of wild animals that the painting above re-creates.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Metamorphoses by Ovid. Translated by David Raeburn. Penguin Classics; Revised Edition, 2004.
- https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_356
