The Legend of Orfeo

The painting depicts different moments in the story of Orpheus. At the center of a large wooded landscape, Orpheus plays the zither seated at the foot of a tree, enchanting fairs, nymphs, satyrs and other natural elements with his song. In the background, numerous characters animate the narration of episodes connected to the myth of Orpheus: on the left of the main scene, the descent into the Underworld by the musician to save his wife Eurydice; on the right, the end of Orpheus, killed by the bacchantes. The precise and punctual narration of the episodes of the story highlights a marked erudition on the part of the painter or of the patrons, as well as the notoriety and diffusion in the Italian and European courts of the myth of Orpheus, which over the centuries became a symbol of poetry and unhappy love. The authorship of the work is still unknown but it can be said with some certainty that the artist comes from the Nordic area, given the lenticular description of the landscape, fauna and facial features. However, there are some elements, such as the round temple in the background on the right, which denote a probable knowledge of Italian painting, with more classical components. The composition, narratively complex, is characterized by a clearly outlined spatial layout, determined by an arrangement divided into blocks, and by the juxtaposed and well-defined representation of the animals, which suggest a visual culture permeated by works of a graphic matrix. These elements and the more marked sign than that of Flemish artists point towards the attribution to a German artist, presumably linked to the city of Augusta, a meeting place between Nordic and Italian culture.