According to Greek mythology, the poet Orpheus played the lyre with such magical sweetness that he charmed the animals, birds and reptiles that gathered around him. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope, and inherited from his parents a mastery of music and a divinely gifted voice. He quickly mastered the lyre, after which no god or mortal could resist his music. It was said that even the rocks and trees would move closer to him to hear his songs. The theme of Orpheus charming the animals was extremely popular in the sixteenth century, as the story came to express hope in the power of art and poetry to conquer, indeed resolve, irreconcilable conflict during a period of intense political upheaval and religious strife.

In the present painting, Orpheus is depicted playing a viola rather than a lyre, as told in mythology. The viola was invented in northern Italy between 1530 and 1550 and had quickly become a popular instrument in Venice and the surrounding area, and this inclusion is a contemporary twist on the age-old tale. The composition is presumably based on a prototype by Francesco’s father, Jacopo, previously in the collection of the Counts of Stecchini in Bassano, for which a preparatory drawing depicting the two rabbits at lower right and datable to the 1570s is also known (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence). It proved enduringly popular, for Francesco’s younger brother, Leandro (1557-1621), painted it on at least two occasions, one of which was owned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Four further versions on different scales are also recorded in the studio of their youngest brother, Girolamo (1566-1621), at the time of his death.

We are grateful to Dr. Bernard Aikema for suggesting the attribution to Francesco Bassano on the basis of photographs (private communication, March 2021). The painting’s feathery brushstrokes, use of highlights and the dramatic skyline display a clear stylistic affinity with the artist’s signed Adoration of the Magi and the Twelve Months of the Year (both Museo del Prado, Madrid). Giuliana Ericani has alternatively proposed an attribution to Francesco’s younger brother, Girolamo Bassano (1566-1621), citing comparisons with paintings such as Girolamo’s Portrait of Leandro Bassano and his Saint John the Evangelist with Ludovico Tabarino kneeling in adoration (both Museo Civico di Bassano, Bassano del Grappa; private communication, March 2021).

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