Flemish school, circle of Jacob de Backer (1540/55-1591/99): The judgement of Midas, oil on panel, ca. 1600

Work: 84 x 55 cm

Frame: 105 x 76,5 cm

This work derives from a famous composition by Jacob de Backer, of which several examples are known, one of which seems to be considered as autograph (private collection; oil on copper, 35 x 43 cm; reproduced in the catalogue of the exhibition Breughel-Brueghel, Antwerp, 1998, p. 212). Other versions have recently been sold (Christie's London, 9 April 2003, lot 69 as ‘School of Fontainebleau’; Christie’s London, 7 December 2018, lot 118; Artcurial Paris, 20 January 2016, lot 489; Sotheby's Paris, 14 June 2023, lot 106).

The well-known subject of the musical competition between Pan and Apollo comes from Book XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Midas, nominated judge for the competition, chooses Pan as the winner, igniting the fury of Apollo, who punishes him by changing his ears into those of an ass.