POELENBURGH, Cornelis van
(b. ca. 1594, Utrecht, d. 1667, Utrecht)

Satyr Dance

c. 1621
Oil on copper, 45 x 63 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

For a time, Poelenburgh was based in Rome, where his nickname was "Satyr," because this subject matter was one of his specialities. The mythological creatures' elongated bodies and small heads - unusually, there appear to be lady satyrs - and the monstrous rock apparitions above them are in old-fashioned, Italian Mannerist style, while the long, sloping landscape is more northern.