A Classical Landscape with Mercury, Herse and Aglauros
attributed to Johannes Glauber (Utrecht 1646 - Schoonhoven 1726)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1670 - 1729
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
800 x 1003 mm (31 1/2 x 39 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Netherlands
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1151329
Caption
The story depicted is from the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses (II, 708-729). Mercury, who has just punished the shepherd Battus for disloyalty, is flying over the farmlands and woods of Attica when he spots a procession of young girls wending their way to the sanctuary of Minerva. It is love at first sight and he falls for the most beautiful daughter of Cecrops, Herse. He later descends to earth in the hope of encountering her and the story ends with the transformation of the envious Aglauros, Herse's sister, into stone.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Classical Landscape with Mercury, Herse and Aglauros attributed to Johannes Glauber (Utrecht 1646 – Schoonhoven 1726). A landscape with classical buildings on the banks of a lake, with numerous figures. Mercury flying through the sky, top right. Both the landscape and figures have considerable affinities with those in the signed pair of paintings at Felbrigg.
Provenance
Given by Philip Yorke III (1905 – 1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973
Credit line
Erddig, The Yorke Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: CLASSICAL SCENE (PERSEUS) by ALLORI (Paper label on frame )
Makers and roles
attributed to Johannes Glauber (Utrecht 1646 - Schoonhoven 1726), artist