Minerva and Mercury protecting Painting against Ignorance and Calumny

The Antwerp painter Simon de Vos here depicts an artist's studio inhabited by a variety of allegorical and mythological figures. On the left stands Minerva, goddess of Wisdom and protector of the arts, her arm around the female personification of Painting holding a palette in her hand. Across the studio, critics, accompanied by a withered old crone, likely Fury, stand before a painting that is being protected by Mercury. The picture represents the Judgement of Midas: Midas, having judged the music contest between Apollo and Pan, has been given ass' ears for preferring Pan's music to that of Apollo. Like Midas, the critics in the studio bear ass' ears, a motif that Flemish artists often used to denote ill-informed art criticism in this period. Scattered on the floor are artists' implements and a poem in Dutch, extolling the power of art over dishonour. Overhead, Fama blows her trumpet.