The Return from the Hunt

Dating about 1507–8, these companion panels showing a hunt by men and satyrs and their return from the hunt are among the most singular works of the Renaissance. Their principal inspiration was the fifth book of the De Rerum Natura by the Epicurean poet and philosopher Lucretius (ca. 99–55 B.C.). A manuscript of Lucretius’s work was discovered in 1417 and published in Florence in 1471–73. Lucretius believed that the workings of the world can be accounted for by natural rather than divine causes and he put forward a vision of the history of primitive man and the advent of civilization. For more information about these two paintings, including the dispute about their function and patron, visit metmuseum.org.

Credit: Gift of Robert Gordon, 1875