The Pastoral Song

Pastoral poetry imagined shepherds with nothing to do but sing, make music and fall in love. The Greek poet Theocritus started it, and the Roman poet Virgil made it famous with his Eclogues. Here that world is reduced to a few signs. Two sheep lie at the left, a child holds the panpipes, the reed flute of the god Pan, another lifts a garland of flowers, and the tallest leans on a shepherd's crook. Of the four corner pieces around Apollo, it is the only one with animals in it.