1600ca. Ovid's Metamorphoses - etching - Washington DC, NGA (2)

The satyr-god Pan chases the nymph Syrinx into a marsh, where she reaches out for help as her body begins to turn into tall river reeds. In the lower left, a river god rests beside a large flowing urn, while in the far background Pan is seen again, sitting and playing the musical pipes he fashioned from the transformed nymph. The engraving features the dense, swelling lines characteristic of the Haarlem Mannerist style.

Pan was frequently allegorized in Renaissance Neoplatonism and natural philosophy as a personification of 'Universal Nature' (the Greek word 'Pan' meaning 'All'). This myth illustrates the Ovidian concept of metamorphosis as a bridge between the physical world and the creation of art and harmony.