This scene is inspired by a passage from the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid. Orpheus, the mythological Greek musician and poet, sung and played the lyre so sublimely that all the animals, even the fiercest, came up close to listen to him. In another episode from Orpheus’s life he made use of music to try to rescue his wife Eurydice from the Underworld. From Antiquity to the present day that myth has been used to describe music’s seductive power, inspiring numerous artists, particularly composers, from Monteverdi to Nick Cave and including Haydn. Commissioned by Philip IV of Spain, this oil on canvas is signed by Snyders, who painted the animals, and Van Thulden, who painted the figures.