Mercury Entering Herse's Room After Changing Agraulos to Stone, from Ovid's "Metamorphoses", Book II
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Plate: 6 15/16 × 10 1/16 in. (17.7 × 25.5 cm) Sheet: 7 1/8 × 10 1/4 in. (18.1 × 26 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.97.677
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking engraving, *Mercury Entering Herse's Room After Changing Agraulos Stone*, from Ovid's *Metamorphoses* Book II, captures a tense mythological moment created by Dutch master engraver Hendrick Goltzius in 1590. Goltzius, a leading figure in Northern Mannerism, depicts the god Mercury boldly entering Herse's chamber fresh from petrifying her jealous sister Aglaulos. The scene brims with drama: Mercury strides forward confidently, surrounded by elements like female nudes, a watchful dog, and an ornate bed, evoking the voyeuristic intrigue of classical tales. Printed on a modest plate...
About the Artist
Hendrick Goltzius|Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century · 1558–1617
Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) was the most celebrated engraver of the Northern Renaissance and a pivotal figure in Dutch Mannerism. Born near the German-Dutch border, Goltzius transformed printmaking into a virtuoso art form through his revolutionary 'swelling line' technique, where the burin was manipulated to create lines of varying thickness that produced unprecedented tonal effects and three-d...