Mercury and Argus
circle of Pier Francesco Mola (Coldrerio 1612 – Rome 1666)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1630 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
305 x 483 mm (12 x 19 in)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 960237
Caption
This scene is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. One of Jupiter’s many loves was Io, a princess of Argos. When this was discovered by his wife, Juno, she turned Io into a white heifer, and handed the animal over to the hundred-eyed giant, Argus, to guard. Mercury was sent by Jupiter to kill the giant, which he did after first lulling him to sleep with music.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Mercury and Argus, circle of Pier Francesco Mola (Coldrerio 1612 – Rome 1666), late 17th century. The red-and-white draped figure of Mercury, winged hat on head, sits poised to play his pipe. A bearded old man, Argus reclines on the left, with Io, transformed into a white heifer cow, to the far left. Io was a princess from Argos, whom Juno was jealous of because she was loved by Jupiter.
Provenance
Marked, on reverse of canvas: Sabine, Lady Winn, née d'Hervart, 1764; purchased by the National Trust by private treaty sale from Lord St Oswald in 2010
Credit line
Nostell Priory, The St Oswald Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
circle of Pier Francesco Mola (Coldrerio 1612 – Rome 1666), artist
References
Brockwell 1915 Maurice Walter Brockwell, Catalogue of the Pictures and Other Works of Art in the Collection of Lord St Oswald at Nostell Priory, London 1915, no. 144