Midas and Bacchus

c. 1624

Oil on canvas, 98.5 × 135 cm · Alte Pinakothek, Munich

An early work from about the time Poussin arrived in Rome in 1624. It shows the start of the story, when Midas tells Bacchus his wish.

Midas makes his request before the wine god.
In the right background Midas washes in the river Pactolus to undo the gift.
Owned by Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria; it came to the museum from Nymphenburg Palace.

For returning his tutor Silenus, Bacchus granted King Midas a wish. Midas asked that all he touched turn to gold, then found he could not eat, and was cured by bathing in the Pactolus.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain