The Pipes of Pan

Mariano Fortuny (1838-1874) was a Spanish painter known for the brilliantly executed, exotic subjects that make him one of the most important Spanish painters of the 19th century and one of the most influential painters on the development of Impressionism. The Pipes of Pan from 1865 depicts the mythological subject of Pan playing his pipes in the brilliant, precisely observed manner that distinguishes Fortuny's best work from the more academic painting of his contemporaries. The 1865 date places this early in Fortuny's career, when he was developing the brilliant technique that would make him one of the most admired painters in Europe, and the mythological subject shows his ability to combine precise observation with exotic fantasy.

The Pipes of Pan is important in the history of Spanish painting because it demonstrates the brilliant, precisely observed manner that Fortuny brought to mythological subjects as one of the most important Spanish painters of the 19th century. Fortuny's brilliant technique—combining precise observation with the exotic fantasy that made him the most admired painter in Europe—was enormously influential on the development of Impressionism, and the 1865 painting shows this technique in its early development.

The Pipes of Pan is Fortuny's brilliant Spanish painting: the mythological subject rendered in the precisely observed, exotic manner of one of the most important Spanish painters of the 19th century. The 1865 painting shows the development of the brilliant technique that would make Fortuny enormously influential on the development of Impressionism.