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Milon and his friend came from Milet, bringing a present to Apollo. Through a laurel garden they beheld the god’s temple by the sea in the distance. The day was hot and the path was dusty and they hurried on to reach the plantation where they saw a clear, cool spring and fruit – bearing trees. Under the trees where they chose to rest, there was a tombstone inscribed: ” Here lie the ashes of Mycon! All his life was goodness itself. He wished to do good also after his death, so he had a water spring arranged here and trees planted. ” A beautiful girl – Mycon’s daughter- in- law – came to fetch water. She told the two pilgrims about Mycon’s goodness and about his son, the best and the most handsome of all the shepards, who had married her although she was poor.

Artist Franc Kavčič/Caucig

Year of creation (before 1810)

Technique oil, canvas

Dimensions 122 x 172 cm

Inventory number NG S 3341, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana

Collection 1800–1820

Preservation: The canvas has been fastened over a strecher widened by 3 cm. The ground consists of two layers.
Restored: 2006, Kemal Selmanović, Ljubljana
Provenance: Before 1810: painted for Palais Auersperg in Vienna; 1953: the painting in the Kaiser Saal was bought, together with the palace, by consul Alfred Weiss. After his death the palace was sold in 1987; 2006: a private art collector of Vienna sold the painting; in the same year it was donated by the new owner to the National Gallery of Slovenia, in memory of Dr. Leopold Safrin.
Exhibition: Franc Kavčič/Caucig; Paintings for Palais Auersperg in Vienna; National Gallery of Ljubljana, 24 October 2007 – 10 February 2008
Lit: Annalen 1810, p. 359 ( several scenes from Gessner’s Idylls and after Athenaeus in the palace of prince Auersperg in Vienna ); Boeckh 1825, p. 328 (twelve paintings, part landscapes part histories ); Kukuljević 1825, p. 153 ( various paintings showing the ” environs ” and historical scenes ); Palais Auersperg, c. 1957, p. 23 ( Yellow Marble hall, overdoors with Classical subject – matter, Italian painter, 18 th c. ); Rozman 1978, pp. 61, 150 – 151; Rozman 2004, p. 19; Rozman 2005, p. 26.