National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: The Satyr and the Peasant
  • Overview
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

The unusual subject of this painting comes from one of Aesop's fables. In his Man and the Satyr, he related how a demigod helped a peasant who was lost on a wintry day. When the mortal put his chilled fingers to his mouth to breathe warmth onto them, the immortal satyr was astonished. Later, in thanks for the satyr's guidance, the peasant invited him to eat. The soup being hot, the man blew on his spoon to cool it. Johann Liss portrayed the tale's climax when the satyr jumps up in disgust, proclaiming, "From this moment I renounce your friendship, for I will have nothing to do with one who blows hot and cold with the same breath" -- the moral being that all humans are hypocrites because they inconsistently blow hot and cold.

Johann Liss was among the initiators of the dynamic baroque style of the 1600s. The sonorous color scheme shows his knowledge of past Venetian masters such as Titian and Veronese, while the dramatic conflict of light and shadow reveals an acquaintance with the spotlighting which Caravaggio concurrently employed in Rome. But the main influences here are the energized movement and robust figure types derived from the contemporary Antwerp geniuses, Jacob Jordaens and Peter Paul Rubens.

Inscription

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Marks and Labels

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Provenance

Aron de Joseph de Pinto [d. 1785], Spain and The Netherlands, by 1780.[1] Lopes Leao de Laguna, The Netherlands.[2] (Leo Nardus, Suresnes, France, and New York); sold 1897 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Private Collection of P.A.B. Widener, Ashbourne-near Philadelphia. Part II. Early English and Ancient Painting. (1885-1900), 270, no. 270. The painting is not listed in the catalogue of the de Pinto sale, Amsterdam, Van der Schley & Yver, 11 April 1785; letter of 16 December 1988 to John Hand from Gerbrand Kotting, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague.

[2] See note 1.

Exhibition History

1975
Johann Liss, Rathaus, Augsburg, Germany; The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975-1976, no. A10.

Bibliography

1885
Widener 1885-1900, 2:270, no. 270, repro.
1907
Mather, F. J. "Art in America." The Burlington Magazine 10 (1907): 269.
1907
Peltzer, R. A. "Liss." In Thieme-Becker 37 vols. 1907-1950. Leipzig, 1929: 23:286.
1915
Mayer, August L. "Notes on Spanish Pictures in American Collections." Art in America 3 (1915): 316.
1916
Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro., as The Satyr and the Traveller, attributed to Velasquez.
1916
F. "Aus der Sammlerwelt und vom Kunsthandel." Der Cicerone 8 (1916): 40.
1916
Oldenbourg, Rudolf. "an Unidentified Picture by Jan Lys." Art in America 4 (1916): 53-58, fig. 1.
1918
Oldenbourg, Rudolf. "Gemäldegalerie. Neues über Jan Lys." Amtliche Berichte aus den Königliche Kunstsammlungen 39 (1918): col. 114.
1920
Bode, Wilhelm von. "Johan Lys." Oelhagen & Klasings Monatshefte 33 (1920): 172-173, repro.
1921
Oldenbourg, Rudolf. Sei e Settecento Straniero. Jan Lys. Rome, 1921: 10, pl. 17.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 44, repro.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 160, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 160, repro.).
1938
Brimo, René. L'Evolution du Goût aux Etats-Unis d'après l'histoire des collections. Paris, 1938: 117.
1938
Waldmann, E. "Die Sammlung Widener." Pantheon 22 (November 1938): 340-341.
1939
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Willem Drost, Pupil of Rembrandt." The Art Quarterly 2 (1939): 322.
1939
Waterhouse, Ellis K. "Review of L'Evolution du Goût aux Etats-Unis d'après l'histoire des collections by René Brimo." The Burlington Magazine 75 (1939): 86.
1940
Steinbart, Kurt. Johann Liss. Berlin, 1940: 173-174.
1941
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Jan van de Capelle." The Art Quarterly 4 (1941): 289.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 5.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 35, repro.
1959
Steinbart, Kurt. "Das Werk des Johann Liss in alter und neuer Sicht." Saggi e Memorie di storia dell'arte 2 (1959): 168-170, 204, fig. 13.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 309, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 80
1965
Klessmann, Rüdiger. "Ein neues Werk des Johann Liss in der Berliner Gemäldegalerie." Nordelbingen 34 (1965): 83.
1967
"Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Verschillende Verzamelingen." Verslagen der Rijksverzamelingen van geschiedenis en kunst 89 (1967): 98.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations (Companion to the Summary Catalogue, 1965). Washington, 1968: 70, no. 635, repro.
1975
Blankenagel, Gabriele. "Johann Liss." Weltkunst, The World-Art Review 45, no. 17 (1 September 1975): 1361.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 206, repro. 207.
1975
Klessmann, Rüdiger. "Johann Liss -- His Life and Work." and Richards, Louise S. "Johann Liss -- Drawings and Prints." In Johann Liss. Exh. cat. Rathaus, Augsburg; The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975-1976: 24-25 and 39.
1975
Rowlands, John. "`Johann Liss' at Augsburg." Review of Johann Liss; Ausstellung (Augsburg 1975). In The Burlington Magazine 117, no. 873 (December 1975): 835.
1975
Safarik, Eduard A. "La Mostra di Johann Liss." Review of the exhibition Johann Liss, Cleveland 1975. In Arte Veneta 29 (1975): 303, no. A10.
1976
Bean, Jacob. "Johann Liss (and Peolo Pagini)." Master Drawings 14, no. 1 (Spring 1976): 65.
1976
Butler, Joseph T. "America." The Connoisseur 193, no. 776 (October 1976): 147.
1976
Spear, Richard E. "Johann Liss Reconsidered." The Art Bulletin 58, no. 4 (December 1976): 586, 588, 590-591.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:290-293, no. 635, 2:pl. 206.
1981
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La Pittura Veneziana del Seicento. 2 vols. Milan, 1981: 1:144, 2:605, fig. 397.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 232, no. 299, color repro., as by Jan Lys.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 231, repro.
1986
Klessmann, Rüdiger. "Addenda to Johann Liss." The Burlington Magazine 128 (1986): 192.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 72, color repro.
1993
Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 121-126, color repro. 123.

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