Edward Calvert (Appledore, Devon 1799-1883 Stoke Newington)

Stylistically this small oil resembles a slightly larger oil on paper in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Pan and the Sacred Seats (E. Lister, Edward Calvert, 1962, pl. LIV). These works are typical of Calvert's late 'pagan' period when, after a tour of Greece in 1844, he associated the geographical Arcadia in the Peloponnese with the Arcadia of classical literature and art.

Samuel Calvert reports that his father painted 'the Old Arcadian several times in golden hues'. Another version of the present picture, belonged to Calvert and was exhibited at the Royal Academy, Winter 1893, no. 132, and is reproduced S. Calvert, loc.cit.