The Judgement of Midas

The Judgement of Midas tells the story of a music competition between Pan, the god of the woods, and Apollo, the god of poetry and music. Apollo won, but King Midas foolishly contested the outcome and proclaimed Pan the winner. As a punishment for his boldness Midas was made to wear a pair of ass’s ears. The story comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The assertive baroque painter was only too glad to use the story about the artistic ascendancy of fine stringed instruments over rural wind instruments as an illustration of the superiority of cultivated man over man in his natural state. Jacob Jordaens also painted several depictions of the myth. Due to the many commissions he received he was forced to employ other young painters and apprentices whose work he himself often signed. This explains why the quality of his work is not always consistent. The Judgement of Midas is probably painted by Jordaens’ workshop.