Mercury, Herse and Aglauros - Veronese
Description
Mercury (left, recognizable by the winged helmet) seeks to enter the bedroom of Herse (seated right), who is waiting for him for a tryst. Aglauros, jealous of her sister, tries to intervene. Struck with the caduceus, she is turned to stone. In Ovid's story, Pallas, who harbored an old grudge against Aglauros, had asked Envy to inspire this fatal jealousy against a god. Envy is represented here by the gilded bronze statue on the table. Pallas is represented by the statue in the niche at the far end of the room. Herse rests her right hand on a musical score. She was therefore singing. Other scores are laid out on the table, fastened with small ribbons. Also on the table are a stringed instrument (viol?), a bouquet of flowers and a fruit bowl containing a pear. This is an allegory of the five senses: sight (of the scene), hearing (the instrument), smell (flowers), taste (fruit) and touch (of the score).
1. Signed "Paulus Caliar | Veronensis feci" lower right at the foot of the balustrade.
3. The painting once stood in the gallery of the Palais d'Orléans. It was engraved in "Galerie du Palais royal gravée d'après les tableaux des differentes ecoles qui la composent", by Louis-Abel de Bonfous and J. Couché, tome II, 1808 (Cote Bnf MFILM V-293), with the notation "Moitte sculp.". The commentary is as follows: "It is in vain that Aglaure, daughter of Cécrops, king of Athens, wants to prevent Mercury from entering. Mercury touches her with his caduceus and turns her into stone. Hersé sits carelessly, her bosom half bare, motionless at the sight of her lover. Her tranquility leads us to presume that she does not yet see in her sister, the confidante of her loves, a rival victim of Pallas' hatred."
Technical Data
Notice #000767