The Judgment of Midas
ORIGINAL ANTIQUE COOPER ENGRAVING AFTER circa 1640's VAN DEN HOECKE PAINTING
The picture depicts a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses about a musical contest between Apollo and Pan, conflating the entire narrative into one scene. Pan audaciously challenged the god of music to the competition and blew a rustic melody on his pipes that delighted King Midas. Then, Apollo played his lyre so beautifully that the mountain god, Timolus, who judged the contest, pictured here holding a staff, declared Apollo the victor. Midas disagreed and Apollo gave Midas a donkey's ears for his "poor" judgment. In the Gallery's painting, Pan is shown playing his flute, which indicates the contest has only begun, yet Midas already has donkey ears.
Jan Van den Hoecke (1611-1651), Flemish was a prominent member of Rubens's studio by in the 1630s. After Rubens's death in 1640, Van den Hoecke painted a number of similarly scaled mythological scenes for which he often borrowed figures from Rubens compositions. Van den Hoecke's style is characterized by slightly angular drapery folds; large, slanted eyes; small, pointed noses; and curly-haired, slightly exaggerated heads, as seen in Apollo, Pan, and their crowd of onlookers.
Trimmed as pictured
Measures: 5-1/2" x 5-3/4" (13,8 cm x 14,5 cm)