The Feast of the Gods

Musée-Magnin, Jan van Bijlert, Le Festin des dieux “The Feast of the Gods”

The charm of the Musée Magnin is to be found in the building itself. Although Jeanne an Maurice Magnin lived in Paris, where they built up their collection, it was at the Hôtel Lantin, in the mansion where they were born, that they chose to create the museum. Furniture, objets d'art and clocks would all add to the visitors' enjoyement, and preserve the lived in atmosphere of a former family home.

Home Collections Northern, Scandinavian and English Schools 16th-19th century

The Magnins’ first acquisition in 1881 was a painting they attributed to the Swedish painter, Kraft. This purchase marked the originality of an approach that would lead the two collectors to take an interest in the art of Northern and Central Europe.

…Several trends in Dutch painting from the Golden Age are illustrated. There we find Pieter Lastman, Rembrandt's master, as well as Jacob de Wet, probably Rembrandt's student. From the Utrecht painters, once versed in Caravagism, the Magnins retained Van Bijlert, whose Feast of the Gods mixes mythological iconography with that of the Last Supper in a disturbing way.

The Feast of the Gods or Banquet of the Gods

as a subject in art showing a group of deities at table has a long history going back into antiquity. Showing Greco-Roman deities, it enjoyed a revival in popularity in the Italian Renaissance, and then in the Low Countries during the 16th century, when it was popular with Northern Mannerist painters, at least partly as an opportunity to show copious amounts of nudity.