Pan teaching Apollo to play the pipes
1790
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
About the artist
1790
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Pan teaching Apollo to play the pipes is a 1790 watercolor by Samuel Woodforde, a British Romanticism work, depicting Satyr, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
You see a half-goat man leaning against a tree, showing a young boy how to play a wooden flute. This is Pan teaching Apollo—an odd pair, since Apollo was usually the god of music. The watercolor is light and quick, like a sketch, but the faces are carefully done. It feels like a private lesson, not a grand myth. Look up *sfumato* to see how other artists softened edges the way Woodforde does here.
A drawing from 1790 by Samuel Woodforde depicts the god Pan instructing the young Apollo in playing the panpipes. The scene captures the moment of musical guidance between the two figures.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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