Mercury putting Argus to sleep

Mola, Pier Francesco (1612-1666)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
c. 1645-1655
Height:
58.7 cm  (23 1/8 in.)
Width:
99.4 cm  (39 1/8 in.)
Frame: 27 3/8 × 43 15/16 × 2 3/4 in. (69.5 × 111.6 × 7 cm)
Technique / Medium:
oil on canvas

    Item location

  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College
    Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation[Museum inv. no.: 1961.85]

Description

In this scene, Mercury is playing a vertical flute to Argus to put him to sleep.

Iconclass

48C7525
one person playing wind instrument
97CC64
Mercury lulls Argus into sleep by making music

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

End-blown flute [3940]

RIdIM images


Image URLs

image link 1
Allen Memorial Art Museum
image link 2
Artstor (may require subscription)

RIdIM record id

4745