Jacob Jordaens

baroque

Jacob Jordaens Paintings 1593 - 1678 Belgium, Baroque Painter

Satyr and Peasant

Oil on canvas, 74.21 x 66.14 inches [188.5 x 168 cm]

Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Mythological Art

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OIL PAINTING: Satyr and Peasant
The theme for this painting by Hals - Satyr and Peasant is taken from a fable by the ancient Greek author Aesop. In the right foreground a satyr gets up brusquely from a table to which he has been invited by a peasant family, and admonishes his host, sitting to the left, for cooling his hot porridge by blowing on it, whereas earlier he had warmed his cold hands with the same breath when travelling home with the satyr. The peasant "blows both hot and cold". This still popular expression means that someone does not take a clear position and is therefore unreliable.