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Orpheus and the Beasts
Unknown - Enlarge image
Orpheus and the Beasts
- Object:
Wall panel
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (painted)
- Date:
1630-1640 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
tempera on panel
- Credit Line:
Given by Lady Sackville
- Museum number:
W.156&:1-1923
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 17, shelf EXP
Object Type
Many 17th-century houses were decorated with mural paintings, ranging in technique from colourful painted wood panels as here, to crude monochrome designs painted directly on to the plaster. Changes in fashion have meant that few houses now have such paintings visible, though there are undoubtedly more to be discovered under layers of paint or newer panelling.
Subjects Depicted
Orpheus, in Greek mythology, was the son of the god Apollo. He was able to charm the wild beasts with his music and by its magic power even move trees and rocks. This story was a favourite theme for poets, painters, printmakers and musicians in the 17th century. For example, the first successful opera, performed in Mantua in 1607, was Monteverdi's Orfeo. The anonymous artist here has copied closely his composition from a print in a natural history book, the frontispiece to A Book of Beasts, published anonymously in 1630 by Thomas Johnson. Book illustrations and other prints were frequently used as image sources for embroidery and tapestry weaving, which decorated rooms and furniture.
Text
The inscription reads:
Such Heavenly power in musick rests
It calmes and tames the savage beasts
Whilst Orpheus playes
Each beast obeyes.
