Mercury and the Daughters of Cecrops (Aglauros, Herse and Pandrosus going to the Temple of Minerva)
follower of Paul Bril (Antwerp 1554 - Rome 1626)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1674
Materials
Oil paint and canvas
Measurements
1190 x 1350 mm
Order this imageCollection
Tredegar, Newport
NT 1553469
Summary
Painting. An oil painting on canvas, Mercury and the Daughters of Cecrops (Aglauros, Herse and Pandrosus going from the Temple of Minerva), follower of Paul Bril (Antwerp 1554 – Rome 1626). A landscape painting, in the foreground, a path winds up from a town by the sea to a temple (similar to the Temple of the Sybil at Tivoli) and other buildings on a hill, on the left. In the centre, the three daughters of Cecrops, the legendary first King of Athens, and other women can be seen, walking on the path. Mercury, identified by his winged sandals and hat and holding his caduceus, or magic wand, is flying above them in the sky. The composition is similar to a small painting on copper in the Devonshire collection at Chatsworth by Paul Bril and the group of female figures is also similar to the group in the painting of the same subject, close to Adam Elsheimer but now attributed to Jacob Pynas of around 1618 now in the Uffizi in Florence. The story depicted is from 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. He falls in love with 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.
Provenance
Part of the collection on loan to the National Trust from Newport Museum and Galleries. In March 2012 the National Trust took over the management of Tredegar House with its contents and its 90 acres of gardens and parkland, from Newport City Council for a period of 50 years.
Credit line
Tredegar House, The Morgan Collection (on loan to the National Trust from Newport Museums and Galleries)
Makers and roles
follower of Paul Bril (Antwerp 1554 - Rome 1626), artist style of Gaspard Dughet (Rome 1615 – Rome 1675), artist