Pan playing the flute

The mythological Pan as a shepherd plays a flute sitting down near his flock of sheep and goats. The Latin caption states: ‘Pan is sitting laughingly under the sprouting top of a beech and sings in a sweet melodious voice. The youthful flock is dancing as an expression of happiness’. The figure of Pan and the little he-goat in front of him were copied from a work which Jordaens painted between 1630 and 1635 and which is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The composition was extended on the four sides, so that it became more spatial.