Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe — the Babylonian lovers of Ovid's Metamorphoses whose tragic misunderstanding leads to mutual death beneath a mulberry tree — was the antique precursor of the Romeo and Juliet narrative. Niklaus Manuel, the Bernese painter, poet, soldier, and Protestant reformer, brought to this mythological subject the dramatic intensity and moralizing instinct that characterized his artistic personality. Manuel was one of the most complex figures of the Swiss Reformation, combining artistic production with political engagement and satirical verse. His treatment of the Ovidian tale at the Kunstmuseum Basel represents the intersection of classical learning and Swiss humanist culture in the early sixteenth century.

The tragedy is depicted at its climactic moment — the discovery of the dead or dying lovers beneath the mulberry tree. Manuel's characteristic energetic draftsmanship translates into painted form with expressive gestural energy. The landscape setting is rendered with Swiss directness, and the figures' postures convey the drama of the ill-fated recognition.