Satyr playing flute 1640

Jacob Jordaens painted this scene of a Satyr playing flute, with oil on canvas. The appeal of oil painting in Jordaens’ time lay in its capacity to capture the sensuous qualities of light, texture, and form. Notice the way the paint has been built up in layers of glaze, to create the luminous quality of flesh, and the way he contrasted this with the darkness of the surrounding forest. The painting has an immediacy that belies the labor-intensive, highly skilled process involved. During the 17th century, artists’ workshops were usually organized according to a division of labor, where assistants ground pigments and prepared the wooden panels or canvases, allowing the master to devote his time to the essential business of composing and executing the image. Looking closely at the painting allows us to think about the artist’s engagement with labor, materials, and the social context of artistic production. This gives us a fuller understanding of its meaning, beyond traditional divisions of ‘high art’ and ‘craft.’