# Mercury and Argus

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/mercury-and-argus-r93f3654bf407e3>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [LOCATELLI, Andrea](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15>)
- Date: 1701-1750
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 63 x 75 cm

## Commentary

The subject of the painting is taken from Ovid&#39;s Metamorphoses. Io, the beautiful daughter of the river god Inachus, fell prey to the passion of Jupiter, who - in order to hide her from his jealous wife - turned the girl into a cow. The wily Juno talked her husband into giving her the fine-looking animal and had the hundred-eyed Argus guard it. Jupiter gave Mercury the task of killing the wicked guard. The inventive god approached the meadows and played songs on his pipe. The guard was charmed by the new and masterful melodies, and was lulled to sleep. Mercury beheads the sleeping guardian.

## Related artworks

- [A Faun and a Nymph Reclining in a Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/a-faun-and-a-nymph-reclining-in-a-landscape-r48d2c18763904c>)
- [Figures in a Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/figures-in-a-landscape-r2348c56f2fecd2>)
- [Landscape in Lazio with a Well](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/landscape-in-lazio-with-a-well-r88753bd52c61ef>)
- [Landscape with Mercury and Argus](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/landscape-with-mercury-and-argus-r92e7f22a77d038>)
- [Market in the Piazza Navona in Rome](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/locatelli-andrea-rf944a8b5807b15/market-in-the-piazza-navona-in-rome-r21ae72130b4787>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)