Pan Reclining before a Large Vase, published 1648
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione ("Il Grechetto") (Italian, 16091664)
Etching; sheet 4 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (11.4 x 21.2 cm)
Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917 (17.50.17[464])
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione ("Il Grechetto") (Italian, 16091664)
Etching; sheet 4 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (11.4 x 21.2 cm)
Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917 (17.50.17[464])
In the 1640s, Castiglione produced a group of etchings that bring to life the world of Theocritus' Idylls and Virgil's Eclogues, in which Pan is frequently invoked as lord of the flocks and patron of pastoral poetry. In this etching, the resting god, wearing his usual crown of pine, receives a second crown of grape leaves. The volcano must be Etna, for the rustic verse of both the Greek Theocritus (ca. 300260 B.C.) and the Roman Virgil (7019 B.C.) is set in Sicily.



















