Pan and SyrinxPeter Paul Rubens (Flemish; 1577–1640), with the assistance of Jan Brueghel theElder (

Pan and SyrinxPeter Paul Rubens (Flemish; 1577–1640), with the assistance of Jan Brueghel theElder (Flemish; 1568–1625)1617Oil on panelMuseum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister© Museumslandschaft Hessen KasselThe Transformation of Syrinx into ReedsThenHermes thus: A nymph of late there wasWhose heav'nly form her fellows did surpass.The pride and joy of fair Arcadia’s plains,Belov’d by deities, ador’d by swains:Syrinx her name, by Sylvans oft pursu’d,As oft she did the lustful Gods delude:The rural, and the woodland Pow'rs disdain’d;With Cynthia hunted, and her rites maintain’d:Like Phoebe clad, even Phoebe’s self she seems,So tall, so streight, such well-proportion’d limbs:The nicest eye did no distinction know,But that the goddess bore a golden bow:Distinguish’d thus, the sight she cheated too.Descending from Lycaeus, Pan admiresThe matchless nymph, and burns with new desires.A crown of pine upon his head he wore;And thus began her pity to implore.But e'er he thus began, she took her flightSo swift, she was already out of sight.Nor stay’d to hear the courtship of the God;But bent her course to Ladon’s gentle flood:There by the river stopt, and tir’d before;Relief from water nymphs her pray'rs implore.Nowwhile the lustful God, with speedy pace,Just thought to strain her in a strict embrace,He fill’d his arms with reeds, new rising on the place.And while he sighs, his ill success to find,The tender canes were shaken by the wind;And breath’d a mournful air, unheard before;That much surprizing Pan, yet pleas’d him more.Admiring this new musick, Thou, he said,Who canst not be the partner of my bed,At least shall be the confort of my mind:And often, often to my lips be joyn’d.He form’d the reeds, proportion’d as they are,Unequal in their length, and wax’d with care,They still retain the name of his ungrateful fair.(Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I.Translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.) -- source link

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