Mountain Landscape with Narcissus

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Buy a print or image licence

You can purchase this reproduction

If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

The young man staring into the pool in the foreground is Narcissus. According to the Roman poet Ovid, he was a man of extraordinary beauty but was also so proud that he spurned each of his suitors in turn. As a punishment, the goddess Nemesis led him to a pool where he fell so in love with his own reflection that he wasted away to nothing more than a flower growing in the grass.

Subtly, Pynas has also included another character from the story. The nymph Echo was the most famous of Narcissus’s spurned admirers. Rejected, she also pined away until her bones became stone and only the distant sound of her voice survived. She is there, Pynas seems to imply, in the resonant cliffs above the pool. The subject was frequently painted because it gave artists an excuse to showcase landscape, a genre which was becoming increasingly popular both in Rome and in Holland.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Mountain Landscape with Narcissus

Date

1628

Medium

Oil on wood

Measurements

H 47.6 x W 62.8 cm

Accession number

NG6460

Acquisition method

Bought in memory of the art historian and critic Keith Roberts, 1980

Work type

Painting

Tags

See a tag that’s incorrect or offensive? Challenge it and notify Art UK.

Help improve Art UK. Tag artworks and verify existing tags by joining the Tagger community.

Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue