Nymphs and Satyr by Cornelis van Poelenburgh

This arcadian scene is full of movement and sound. A nymph and a satyr gambol with their arms raised, beating drums. A sense of energetic motion is channelled through the prancing figures, with the nymph’s hair swinging and feet hovering mid-step. The satyr’s hoof is raised high as he skips forward. Perhaps startled into a rude awakening, the seated nymph appears to be gesticulating at the players – either wishing to join them in the dance or, more likely, remonstrating and directing them to leave her in peace. The implied noise of the discordant group is in stark contrast to the tranquil waterside and calm sky to the right.

The Dutch landscape painter Cornelis van Poelenburgh (1594/95-1667), may have added another subtle layer of humour to this work. He was a founding member of a Dutch group of painters, the Bentvueghels (‘Birds of a Feather’), based in Rome in the early 1620s. The group gave each other nicknames, and Van Poelenburgh’s was ‘Satiro’, or Satyr – striking a chord with the subject of this painting. Set in Italianate landscapes, his small-scale paintings were sought after by collectors both in Italy and back in Van Poelenburgh’s native Utrecht, where he returned and continued to draw on the inspiration of the Roman campagna (countryside). His international acclaim also led to him briefly becoming British court painter to King Charles I (1625-1649).