Orpheus by Roelandt Savery, 1628
"Orpheus
charms the animals with music in this painting by an artist who was fascinated
by nature. Painting at a time when the curiosity of the Renaissance was giving
birth to modern science, Savery spent part of his career at the court of the
eccentric emperor Rudolf II in Prague, where natural wonders were collected and
the astonomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler employed. His most famous
painting today is The Dodo – – one of the few images of this now extinct bird
that may record its living appearance. There doesn’t seem to be a dodo in this
idyllic, blue-tinged landscape but lions, a pelican, an elephant, swans, deer,
cattle, goats and a peacock are among the many creatures drawn together by the
sweet music of Orpheus. They are all at peace: a hunting dog seems to want to
make friends with a stag.", The Guardian, August 2024