School of Fontainebleau, 16th century, The Contest of Apollo and Pan

School of Fontainebleau 16th century The Contest of Apollo and Pan Oil on panel Provenance: Anon. Sale, Christie’s, London, 9 April 2003, lot 69, as ‘School of Fontainebleau, late 16th / early 17th Century’ (£44,215 to the late husband of the present owner).   Exhibited: Paris, Wildenstein, L’Ecole de Fontainebleau, December 1939, no. 22. New York, Wildenstein, The School of Fontainebleau, 31 October – 30 November 1940, pp. 76-7, no. 22, illustrated.   Literature: R. Huyghe, ‘L’Ecole de Fontainebleau’, Beaux-Arts, 1 December 1939, p. 13. A. Watt, ‘Notes from Paris’, Apollo, XXXI, no. 182, February 1940, p. 46. A.P. de Mirimonde, ‘A Propos de l’iconographie du Duel musical d’Apollon et de Pan de P.-P. Rubens’, Bulletin des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1971, nos. 1-4, p. 62, fig. 5, as ‘Anonyme franco-flamand de l’École de Fontainebleau’. J. Foucart in the catalogue of the exhibition Le siècle de Rubens dans les collections publiques françaises, Grand Palais, Paris, 1977-78, p. 40, under no. 4, as Jacques de Backer.     Taken from Book XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this painting shows the musical contest between Pan and Apollo, witnessed by the mountain god Tmolus and King Midas. After being declared the winner, Apollo, angered by Midas’ delight in Pan’s music, punished the king by changing his ears into those of an ass. The narrative is here conflated to show Apollo playing his lyre, while Midas can be seen gesturing toward Pan as his ears transform. Dimensions: 39.5 in. (H) x 50.25 in. (W)