Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus  1627

The picture was painted not long after Poussin arrived in Rome. It represents the story of Midas, an allegory of vanity, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Bacchus offered Midas a gift, and the king asked that everything he touched be turned to gold. Soon realizing that he could neither eat nor drink, he asked to be relieved of the gift and Bacchus sent him to wash it away in the ...