Amaryllis and Mirtillo

The scene comes from Il pastor fido, The Faithful Shepherd, a pastoral play by Giovanni Battista Guarini of Ferrara, printed in 1590 and then read and staged across Europe. The shepherd Mirtillo loves the nymph Amaryllis, who is promised to another. To get near her he dresses as a girl and joins a kissing contest among the nymphs, with Amaryllis as the judge. He wins, she crowns him with the garland, and he gallantly sets it back on her head, which is the moment painted here.

Van Dyck painted the subject around 1631 to 1632 for Frederick Henry, prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and that picture is generally identified with the version at Pommersfelden in Germany. The Turin canvas is a separate version. The museum lists it under van Dyck while also naming a Flemish circle, and copies of the composition are thought to have been made in his Antwerp workshop before the original left for The Hague.