A beautiful nymph lying in the foreground seems to be asleep, although she may be enjoying a moment of solitary ecstasy. Beside her a golden-haired child watches as a satyr – a man with a goat’s ears, horns and legs – gently removes her delicate white robe. Another satyr peeps out from behind a tree, smiling mischievously. In ancient Roman art, satyrs are represented as lustful, drunken woodland gods.
The woman’s pale skin, soft curves and rosy cheeks contrast with the satyrs' tanned skins and muscular bodies. In the past it was suggested that the painting showed Jupiter, king of the gods, and the nymph Antiope, or perhaps a satyr disturbing the sleeping Venus, goddess of love. However, the details of the painting do not exactly fit either interpretation.
Painted in around 1627, this is an example of Poussin’s early work. He was a young painter living in Rome without regular patronage, and this may have led him to paint erotic subjects that appealed to a wide audience.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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