About this artwork
Known for his lustful appetite, Pan preyed upon hapless nymphs. When Pan pursued her to a river’s edge, the skilled huntress Syrinx appealed to Artemis, goddess of chastity, who transformed her into the surrounding river reeds to save her. Pan’s frustrated sigh sounded across the hollow reeds, which he then fashioned into the set of pipes that became his attribute. This 16th-century German drawing references details from book one of Ovid’s Metamorphoses such as the quiver Syrinx grasps as she escapes: “When [Pan] thought he now had Syrinx, found that instead of the nymph’s body he only held reeds from the marsh; and, while he sighed there, the wind in the reeds, moving, gave out a clear, plaintive sound. Charmed by this new art and its sweet tones the god said ‘This way of communing with you is still left to me.’”
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Georg Wechter
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Title
- Pan and Syrinx
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Place
- Germany (Artist's nationality)
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Date
- Artist's working dates 1550–1599
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Medium
- Pen and black ink on tan laid paper, tipped onto tinted laid paper
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Dimensions
- 11.5 × 9.4 cm (4 9/16 × 3 3/4 in.)
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Credit Line
- The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
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Reference Number
- 1922.3508
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/3235/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
