Plaquette with Pan en Syrinx

Paulus van Vianen made this plaquettes and the one with a scene from Diana and Actaeon (inv.nr. 14745) at the height of his career. In 1603 he started work for the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. During the two previous years he had worked in Salzburg at the court of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau. In this period, landscapes became an important inspiration. The idealized figures in the mythological scenes on these plaquettes have also been placed in realistic landscapes. This piece from 1613 shows the metamorphosis of nymph Syrinx. Pursued by the god Pan, she transforms into rustling reed. Van Vianen put great variation into the positions of the bodies, as to demonstrate the virtuosity of his craftsmanship.The gilding is not original and was most likely applied in the 19th century.