Midas and Bacchus (Poussin)

Midas and Bacchus (German: Midas und Bacchus) is an oil painting usually attributed to Nicolas Poussin and dated to about 1624–1629, which is now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.^[1]

Description[edit]

This subject exhibits the avaricious King of Phrygia, attired in a blue vesture and a yellow mantle, bending on one knee supplicating Bacchus to take back the power with which he had endowed him, of changing whatever he touched into gold. The deity stands near, holding a cup in one hand, while the other is compassionately extended towards the suffering king. Silenus is recumbent near them, and a beautiful nymph lies naked asleep on the foreground, with an infant by her side. Beyond this group are three fauns, one of whom is seated drinking, a second is playing on a double pipe, and a third is gathering fruit. In addition to these, on the right, may be noticed two boys playing with a goat, and more remote are a recumbent river god and a youth; the latter is kneeling on the bank of a stream. The surrounding country represents a beautiful Arcadian scene.^[2]

Attribution[edit]

Blunt (1966), citing the confused iconography and awkward spatial awareness of the composition, disputes the authenticity of this picture, which he tentatively ascribes to the so-called Heytesbury Master.^[3] However, it is accepted by Wright (2007) and the Alte Pinakothek as an early work of Poussin.^[4]

Provenance[edit]

First recorded in the inventory of the Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, in 1751. Thence moved to the Alte Pinakothek in 1836.^[4]

References[edit]

^ "Midas und Bacchus, um 1624 (Inv. no. 528)". Sammlung Pinakothek. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. 12 December 2023.
^ Smith 1837, 136–137.
^ Blunt 1966, 176, 178.
^ ^a ^b Wright 2007, 82.

Bibliography[edit]

Blunt, Anthony (1966). The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin. Critical Catalogue. London: Phaidon. pp. 3, 176 (no. R89).
Smith, John (1837). A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters: Nicholas Poussin, Claude Lorraine, and Jean Baptist Greuze. Vol. 8. London: Smith and Son. pp. 136–137 (no. 272). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Wright, Christopher (1985). Poussin. Paintings. A Catalogue Raisonné. England: Harlequin Books Ltd. pp. 158–159 (no. 49).
Wright, Christopher (2007). Poussin. Paintings. A Catalogue Raisonné. London: Chaucer Press. p. 82 (no. 49).

External links[edit]

Media related to Midas und Bacchus (528) by Nicolas Poussin at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Midas und Bacchus, um 1624 (Inv. no. 528)". Sammlung Pinakothek. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. 12 December 2023.

[2] Smith 1837, 136–137.

[3] Blunt 1966, 176, 178.

[:0-4] Wright 2007, 82.

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v t e Nicolas Poussin
List of paintings
Paintings	The Death of Chione (1622) The Battle between the Israelites and the Amorites (c. 1625) Joshua's Battle against the Amalekites (c. 1625) Venus and Adonis (1626) The Capture of Jerusalem by Titus (1626; 1635) The Death of Germanicus (1627) Saint Cecilia (1627–1628) Echo and Narcissus (1627–1628) The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus (1628–1629) The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (1628–1629) Plague of Ashdod (1628–1630) Cephalus and Aurora (c. 1629–1630) The Inspiration of the Poet (1629–1630) Sleeping Venus with Cupid (1628–1630) Saint James the Great's Vision of the Virgin Mary (1629–1630) Venus Weeping for Adonis (c. 1630) The Massacre of the Innocents (1625–1632) Parnassus (1631–1633) A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term (1632–1633) The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1633–1634) Adoration of the Shepherds (1633–1634) The Crossing of the Red Sea (1633–1634) The Rape of the Sabine Women (1634–1635, 1637–1638) A Dance to the Music of Time (1634–1636) Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite (c. 1636) Camillus Handing the Falerian Schoolmaster over to his Pupils (1637) Et in Arcadia ego (1637–38) Seven Sacraments (first series 1637–1640; second series 1644–1648) Theseus Rediscovering His Father's Sword (1638) The Manna (1638–1639) Extreme Unction (1638–1640) The Continence of Scipio (1640) Landscape with Saint John on Patmos (1640) The Funeral of Phocion (1648) Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion (1648) Landscape with Polyphemus (1649) Landscape with Three Figures (1645–1650) Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice (1650–1653) The Flight into Egypt (1657–1658) Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun (1658) Landscape with Two Nymphs (1659) Landscape with Hercules and Cacus (c. 1660) The Four Seasons (1660–1664) Apollo and Daphne (1661–1664)
Museums	Musée Nicolas Poussin
Related	Poussinists and Rubenists