Attributed to Gerard de Lairesse (1641-1711)

A version of this composition is in the Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon (Inv. no. 5069) and a second signed version was offered for sale at Htel Drouot, Paris, Dec. 4, 1987, lot 40. A. Roy, rejects all these paintings as being by Lairesse (A. Roy, Grard de Lairesse, 1992, p. 496, under no. P.R. 15).

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 bedchanber, only to be turned to stone by the touch of Mercury's wand.

Inscribed with inventory number '298' on the reverse.