Satyr’s Family

If Renaissance imagery is reliable evidence, satyrs and humans frequently intermarried. Here, Dad plays his horn, while matters of discipline are left up to Mom. But she might as well give up now, for the child appears to be every inch his father's son. The artist may have identified with his subject, for Benedetto Montagna's father wrote of his concern that his son was not married and had sired an illegitimate son.