Pan, Youths, and Nymphs

This large classical painting hung in the Drawing Room at Montpelier. Documentary evidence confirms it was acquired by John Payne Todd, Dolley Madison’s son, when he traveled Europe as a member of the American legation sent to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent. The work was painted by Dutch artist Gerrit von Honthorst (1592-1656) around 1630 and echos other Honthorst works, which depict a satyr offering fruit to a group of allegorical pastoral figures.