Narcissus at the Fountain, ca. 1510 – 1511

About the Work

This panel – much reduced in size through trimming – shows the beautiful Narcissus leaning over the edge of a fountain to gaze at his reflection. As Ovid recounts in his ‘Metamorphoses’, the young man fell so deeply in love with his unattainable image that he died of grief. So much of the picture was cut away that the subject matter became unrecognisable, and in the nineteenth century the overpainting of a few areas turned the androgynous youth into St Catherine with her wheel. These additions, which distorted the picture’s meaning, were removed only a few decades ago.