Narcissus
attributed to Frans de Neve (Antwerp 1606 - Salzburg after 1688)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1660 - 1668
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
656 x 572 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 772284
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Narcissus, attributed to Frans de Neve (Antwerp 1606 - Salzburg after 1688), previously manner of Pier Francesco Mola (Coldrerio 1612 – Rome 1666). A full-length figure of Narcissus as a handsome youth. According to the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses (III: 339-510), as a punishment for spurning the love of the talkative nymph Echo, the goddess Juno punished Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own reflection. He thus spent the rest of his life gazing at his own reflection in the pool, as shown here. After his death he was transformed into a flower of the same name.The figure of Narcissus appears to have been cut out of higher up the tree, and replaced lower down, to judge by the exactly matching shapes of the piece of canvas that he is on, and its apparent replacement. The explanation for this is not obvious, since it is difficult to see what sense the figure would have made up the tree. It may indicate, however, that the whole painting is a fragment, partially repainted to make it coherent.
Provenance
On loan from a private collection
Makers and roles
attributed to Frans de Neve (Antwerp 1606 - Salzburg after 1688), artist previously catalogued as manner of Pier Francesco Mola (Coldrerio 1612 – Rome 1666), artist