Pan en Syrinx

This 1620 Pan and Syrinx depicts the Ovidian myth of the woodland god pursuing the nymph who is transformed into reeds. Jordaens painted this subject multiple times, drawn to its combination of sensual pursuit and pastoral landscape that suited his vigorous, naturalistic style. Jordaens, who outlived both Rubens and Van Dyck to become the dominant figure in Flemish Baroque painting for the second half of the seventeenth century, was particularly celebrated for his exuberant genre subjects, especially his series on the Flemish proverb about the King of the Bean.

The mythological figures are rendered with Jordaens' characteristic fleshy naturalism, set within a lush landscape that demonstrates his skill in integrating figure and nature in Baroque pastoral composition.