Marsyas and Olympus

This is the keyboard lid, probably from a harpsichord, of which 'Silenus gathering Grapes' may have formed part. The subject of a satyr and a youth holding a syrinx suggests the theme of Marsyas (though Silenus is possible) and his follower, the composer Olympus.

Both panels are quite likely originally to have come from a pair of decorated musical instruments which belonged to Fulvio Orsini by 1600. He was a classical scholar and collector, a protégé of the Farnese, and well acquainted with the painter.