(Antwerp 1593–1678)
Mercury and Argo,
oil on canvas, 153.5 x 188.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Mrs. Ch. Wauters, Antwerp, circa 1905;
Private collection, Sweden;
Aristocratic collection, Naples;
and thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:
M. Rooses (ed.), Jacob Jordaens, his life and work, London/New York 1908, p. 144, illustrated p. 143 (as Jacob Jordaens);
Ministère de la Culture et de l’Environnement, Le siècle de Rubens dans les collections publiques françaises, Paris 1977, p. 107, no. 68 (as ‘tableaux avec le méme episode’);
H. Bujs, M. van Berge-Gerbaud (eds.), Tableaux flamands et hollandaise du Museé des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Zwolle 1991, p. 76, no. 25 (as ‘autre version’);
D. Hulst, N. de Poorter, M. Vandenven (eds.), Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Painting and tapestries, exhibiton catalogue, Brussels 1993, pp. 110–111, no. A.26 (as ‘work of Jordaens or his atelier’);
M. Díaz Padrón (ed.), Jacob Jordaens and Spain, Barcelona 2019, p. 287, cat. no. 43 (as ‘large replica’)

This painting represents the mythological scene of Mercury and Argos, a subject Jordaens revisited in works with compositional variants between the 1620s and 1640s. His best-known versions of the subject are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons (inv. no. H679), and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (inv. no. 1996.658). In these paintings both the figurative passages and the depiction of animals is almost identical to parts of the present painting. It differs, however, for its more open composition, with a distant horizon, allowing a greater breadth to the landscape, as well as for the inclusion of more trees and animals; likewise, the vegetation in the foreground is different.

The subject of Mercury and Argos is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (I: 568–723). To hide the true identity of Io from Juno, Jupiter transformed the maiden into a cow, but the goddess, jealous of her rival, nevertheless wished to obtain the beast as a gift. Jupiter, in order to escape any accusation of betrayal acquiesced and Juno placed the metamorphosed maiden under the surveillance of Argo. This herdsman had a hundred eyes, set all over his head, thanks to which he was able to never sleep, since to rest he only ever had to close two eyes at a time, while the rest remained open. Saddened by the unhappy fate he had caused to the maiden, Jupiter charged his son Mercury with the task of freeing her. To get close to Argo, the god disguised himself as a shepherd: after having removed his helmet and wings, keeping only his caduceus and pipes, he advanced on foot towards the herdsman playing a melody. Argo, enchanted by the tune, invited the god to sit beside him and Mercury began to play for a long time while telling him the story of Pan and Syrinx, continuing until he had managed to close all the herdsman’s eyes in sleep. At that moment the god took his sword and cut of the herdsman’s head and freed Io.

Jacob Jordaens was the son of a tapestry merchant; he began his apprenticeship with Adam Van Noot (1562–1641) in 1607, marrying his master’s daughter in 1616. In 1615 he was already registered in the Antwerp guild of painters as a watercolour painter. Alongside Rubens, whom he followed devotedly, and van Dyck, he was one of the leading Flemish painters of the seventeenth century. His compositions are notable for being richly detailed, revealing a close study of the mood and character in the figures portrayed. His paintings are extremely varied and his production includes a range of subjects and themes, from genre scenes to sacred and mythological subjects, but all distinctive for his personal imprint of an everyday realism.