Collantes was the leading Spanish landscape painter of the 17th century. He was born in Madrid, but was influenced by Ribera and the Neapolitans, and also by the Venetian painters of the 16th century, especially in his landscape settings for Old Testament subjects. There are works in Bonn, Madrid, New York, Paris and Providence R I.
This composition illustrates an episode from Book XIV of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in which a shepherd from Apulia vigorously mocks an elegant group of dancing and singing nymphs. As punishment, the shepherd is transformed into an olive tree that bears fruit as bitter as his scornful words.
Francisco Collantes was a landscape painter, one of the numerous pupils of Vicente Carducho.
The prophet Ezekiel is known to us through the Book of the Bible which bears his name. Probably deported into Babylon around 579 BC, he lived with the captive Jews in exile and pronounced his prophecies in the region of present day Tel Aviv. One day, his life was penetrated with the “glory of the Lord”, which he discovered in a series of visions. In one of his visions, the Lord went with him as he walked in a valley full of dry bones.At the Word of God, the bones rose up and “lived”, and “an exceeding great army” arose in their place. This event heralded Israel’s rebirth, and would be read by Christians as the annunciation of the resurrection of the body at the Last Judgment.
