Feast of the gods in the forest

Executed in the Flemish Baroque idiom, the painting employs a rich palette and careful modeling of light and shadow to give depth to the forest interior. Van Stalbemt’s handling of chiaroscuro highlights the figures’ forms and the texture of foliage, while his precise brushwork renders the details of clothing, drapery, and musical instruments.

Created in the early seventeenth century, the canvas entered the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, where it remains on display. Van Stalbemt, known for supplying staffage to other artists’ landscapes, produced this independent composition as part of his broader output of religious, mythological, and allegorical scenes.

The painting reflects the Flemish Baroque fascination with integrating narrative figures into lush, atmospheric landscapes—a practice common among contemporaries such as Rubens and Brueghel. Van Stalbemt’s contribution of figures to collaborative works underscores the period’s workshop culture, where specialists combined talents to achieve complex, multi‑genre compositions.