Mercury, Herse and Aglauros

Details

Gérard de Lairesse* (1641-1711)
Mercury, Herse and Aglauros
oil on canvas
21¾ x 27in. (55.2 x 68.5cm.)

Provenance

Anon. Sale, Christie's, London, Nov. 3, 1978, lot 86.
Bernard C. Solomon, Los Angeles; Sotheby's, New York, Nov. 5, 1986, lot 168.

Literature

A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse, 1992, p. 496, under no. P.R. 15 as Ottmar Elliger II.

Lot Essay

A version of this composition is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, Inv. no. 5069 and a second signed version was offered for sale at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Dec. 4, 1987, lot 40. A. Roy, op. cit., rejects all of these paintings as being by Lairesse.

The subject is taken from Ovid (Metamorphoses, II, vv. 708-832) and tells of Mercury falling in love with Herse, whom he had observed returning from a festival of Minerva. Aglauros, one of Herse's sisters, was so taken by jealousy that she tried to prevent Mercury entering Herse's bedchamber, only to be turned to stone by the touch of Mercury's wand.