The Judgement of Midas 1590

Editor: This is Hendrick Goltzius's "The Judgement of Midas," created around 1590. It's an engraving, and quite intricate! It's like stepping into another world. What draws your eye when you look at this piece? Curator: My focus is pulled toward the underlying narrative—the story that's being communicated through these symbols. Notice Apollo on one side, and Pan with his followers on the other. Consider their placement within the composition; Apollo, bathed in light, and Pan situated amidst gnarled trees, almost bestial forms surrounding him. What does that visual language tell you about how Goltzius perceived them? Editor: It feels like he's contrasting the refined and the wild. Apollo looks almost angelic. Curator: Precisely. And how does this contrast reflect broader cultural values of the time? The Renaissance prized reason, harmony, and classical ideals embodied by figures like Apollo. Pan, with his association with nature and more base instincts, represents a world that Renaissance thinkers were trying to move beyond or, perhaps, control. What happens when Midas chooses Pan? What inherent values were betrayed through that one gesture? Editor: He rejects reason, then, and embraces chaos. I can also see that he literally suffers because of that choice, gaining donkey ears and becoming an object of ridicule! It’s all there, isn’t it? Curator: Yes, indeed! Each element—the figures, the setting, even the details in their expressions—contributes to the symbolic weight of the narrative, informing our understanding of not only the Greek myth, but also the psychology of that time. Editor: Seeing the characters and landscape as symbolic containers like that makes this piece much more compelling. I originally just saw it as an image of a myth, but it shows something about the values of that time as well. Curator: And that’s how a drawing transforms into a mirror reflecting the consciousness of its era!