European Art and Old Masters

Note Trained in the Venetian studio of Alessandro Varotari, also known as Il Padovanino, Giulio Carpioni is one of those traveling artists who skillfully synthethized into his painting various Italian influences. He famously made a trip to Rome, which changed his career forever as he became acquainted with the art of Titian and reputedly met Nicolas Poussin himself, who would continue to be an important influence on his work. In 1638, Carpioni travelled back to Northern Italy, in the Veneto region, and eventually settled in Vicenza, where he enjoyed a solid reputation and produced an important number of mythological scenes, often involving many characters, and in which he would combine his love of classical drawing with an innovative search of contrasting, cold (yet precious) colors. The present work appears typical of Carpioni's style circa 1640. It features the nymph Syrinx as she is trying to escape from Pan's hold - a famous subject derived from Ovid's Metamorphosis, which Nicolas Poussin himself painted. The artist plays with contrasting, and opposing tones to suggest the difference in characters: while the very porcelain-white Syrinx is captured in a myriad of soft, off-white and pale blue colors, Pan himself wears a bright red cape which echoes his tanned complexion and dark hair. Carpioni charges the scene with intense drama: the viewer is set very close to the two characters and cannot escape the terrifying vision, just like Syrinx appears trapped in between Pan's fingers. Luckily one guesses the outcome judging from the line of reeds in the foreground: Syrinx is about to morph into one of the water plants, from which Pan will carve his famous flute.