Jacob Jordaens
Belgium, b.1593, d.1678
Mercury Slaying Argus
- 1652
- Etching
- Purchased 1977
- 284 x 301mm
- 78/146
Tags: animals, Classical, cross-hatching, dogs (animals), gods (deities), men (male humans), monochrome, murders, mythology (literary genre), people (agents), rock, swords, trees
Here Mercury, son of Zeus, prepares to slay the sleeping giant Argus, in a scene from Roman poet Ovid’s epic mythological tale of deception and betrayal, The Metamorphoses. Antwerp-based painter Jacob Jordaens pictured the legend of Mercury and Argus several times, including in this rare etching.
(Out of Time, 23 September 2023 – 28 April 2024)
Exhibition History
![Andreas Cellarius Hypothesis Ptolemaica Sive Communis Planetarum Motus Per Eccentricos Et Epicyclos Demonstrans [The Ptolemaic Hypothesis or Common Representation Demonstrating the Planetary Motions through Eccentrics and Epicycles] 1661. Hand-coloured engraving. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, William A. Sutton bequest, 2000](/media/cache/05/97/05970cdff0f6b3264062d69bf2aa90f5.jpg)
