Satyrs Spying on Nymphs, Cornelis van Poelenburch, after 1627 – (Cornelis Van Poelenburch) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Cornelis Van Poelenburch

Date: 1627

Size: 38 x 46 cm

Technique: Oil On Copper

After his return from Italy in c. 1627 until his death 40 years later Van Poelenburch produced an enormous number of cabinet pieces depicting archaic landscapes with figures bathing. Only few have specific subjects, such as Diana and her Nymphs Spied upon by Actaeon,8 or Landscape with the Discovery of Callisto’s Pregnancy.9 Although the present picture does not appear to depict a specific event from classical mythology, the bow and quiver in the right foreground leave no doubt that the nymphs belong to Diana’s band, even though the hunting goddess herself does not appear to be present. Alarmed by the peeping satyrs on the left, the nude nymphs flee to the old servant sitting by their clothes on the right. This frivolous theme of chastity confronted by lust is not dissimilar to that of the etching by Van Bronckhorst after Van Poelenburch of a single Nymph Surprised by a Satyr.10 After the initial years in Rome, the colours of Van Poelenburch’s paintings become more subdued and the figures heavier and bloated with indistinctly defined joints. From then on there is little stylistic development, so it is therefore difficult to establish a chronology within this large group, also because there is only one dated landscape, of 1659.11 The figures in Satyrs Peeping at Nymphs are characteristic of those Van Poelenburch painted for the rest of his career after his return to Utrecht. However, the crisp colours and the highly defined landscape still recall his Italian works, which might be an indication that it was painted not too long after his return in c. 1627. Burton Fredericksen identified the picture with which Satyrs Peeping at Nymphs was sold at the Blondel de Gagny sale in 177612 as Diana and Attendants in a Landscape with Spoils of the Hunt.13 As he pointed out, both also fit the detailed description in the catalogue of the Tolozan sale in 1801, where they appear again, this time as consecutive lots.14 Notwithstanding their similar size and subject and their shared 18th-century provenance, it is unlikely that the artist conceived these two pictures as pendants.15 Their compositions do not pair them easily, as they both have a repoussoir on the left and a view to the horizon on the right, and their figures differ slightly in size. Taco Dibbits, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 241.