Background story
The painting depicts a scene from the myth of Mercury, Argus (Argos) and Io as told in The Metamorphoses written by Ovid (I, 583 ; IX, 687). In the story Jupiter (Zeus) has fallen in love with Io, a priestess of Hera, his wife, who quickly discovers the affair. Jupiter transforms himself into a bull and transforms Io into a beautiful, white heifer in order to hide from Hera's wrath. Hera sees through this scheme and demands the heifer as a present. To end their affair, Hera puts Io under the guard of the giant Argus Panoptes, who has 100 eyes. Jupiter commands his son Mercury (Hermes) to set Io free by lulling Argus to sleep with an enchanted flute. Mercury, disguised as a shepherd, is invited by Argus to his camp. Mercury charms him with lullabies and then cuts his head off. [7]
Jordaens depicts in the picture the moment when Mercury stealthily picks up his sword to murder the sleeping Argus. The protagonists of the fable are not shown in their divine condition. He has turned Argus into a tired and shaggy old man who does not have 100 eyes and has lost his frightening aspect. Mercury is a simple shepherd with dirty feet who has just numbed Argus' vigilance by playing a flute which is lying on the ground. [1]
Analysis
Description
The framing is narrowly focused on the figures; the canvas is cut on the right-hand side and there is little room left for scenery. The heifers are located on the upper part of the painting. Their bodies form an upside down triangle and form, along with the bodies of the characters, a chiasmus (heifer, human, human, heifer) that appeals to the eye. The background is in fact a foreshadow of the murder; the colours of the sky and the bushes are dark, and three of the heifers are looking at the spectator.
Mercury, disguised as a barefooted young shepherd with a straw hat, is gazing at Argus (who, unlike the myth, has only two eyes) and is about to strike a lethal blow. Argus is asleep, his hand on his stick. Argus' dog is also present, but seems sheepish and impassive.
In fact, the dog is looking at the hidden knife under Mercury's leg. Mercury's movement with his knife, from the bottom to the top in a circular way, is highlighting the impression of movement and reinforces the suggested dramatic tension.
Colours and lights
The colours are dark: there are brown and dark green tones for the bushes at the left bottom corner, on the right hand side and in the middle; dark blue and shades of grey for the sky, but also very light colours, typical of the baroque style with the chiaroscuro technique, that enlighten the characters and the action and highlight their anatomy.
The light of the artwork is similar to the light of a thunderstorm; the sky is dark and the light is raw. The sky confirms this feeling of a calm before the storm and sets a dynamic characteristic to the artwork along with curves that set an impression of movement. The leaves and the heifers also give a gloomy impression because of their very dark colours.
While the landscape is a foreshadow, the scene is not violent because the murder is on the verge of happening. Mercury is dressed in blue and white while Argus is dressed in red, and these two colours are opposed. Blue refers to Mercury's divinity and white his feigned innocence. The red colour announces Argus' death because it is the colour of blood, but it also is an echo of Caravaggio's Saint Jerome whose red robe represents the colour of wisdom. It can also be interpreted as the colour of lust, as if Argus, charmed, was in the same time perverted by Mercury. The colours of the heifers are in opposition too; while Io is white, the colour of purity, there is also a black one, a symbol of fatality and death, that covers a corner of the painting, showing a point of no return.
Esthetic and reception
The contrasts and the movements are highlighted by a low angle shot point of view of the scene. There is no supernatural aspect and the painting is clearly influenced by realism, as if the scene could happen in real life, except the fact that the characters are only dressed with togas.
There is a real precision in the traits of the human characters, precision that can be found once again in paintings of Caravaggio. There is a true study of anatomy, shown in Argus' shrivelled up skin. Mercury's muscles are prominent. This precision reinforces the baroque style of the artwork.
The 16th century Flemish painter and art theorist Karel van Mander gave an example of interpretation of Ovid's myth; more than a conflict between two generations, there is a lesson of morality. Argus is charmed by Mercury who represents lust and desire, and finally dies by his hand. This shows how lust weakens man’s ability to reason and undermines his sense of duty. [3] Jordaens likes to give an echo to morals in his paintings, even in those with prosaic subject-matters. Mercury and Argus is a representation of the myth, but also renews it with a very baroque style influenced by realism that re-establishes the myth in reality and popularises it. [5]
In Greek mythology, Callisto or Kallisto was a nymph, or the daughter of King Lycaon; the myth varies in such details. She was believed to be one of the followers of Artemis who attracted Zeus. Many versions of Callisto's story survive. According to some writers, Zeus transformed himself into the figure of Artemis to pursue Callisto, and she slept with him believing Zeus to be Artemis. She became pregnant and when this was eventually discovered, she was expelled from Artemis's group, after which a furious Hera, the wife of Zeus, transformed her into a bear, although in some versions Artemis is the one to give her an ursine form. Later, just as she was about to be killed by her son when he was hunting, she was set among the stars as Ursa Major by Zeus. She was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas by Zeus.
In ancient Greek religion, Hera is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offend her, especially Zeus' numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring.
Io was, in Greek mythology, one of the mortal lovers of Zeus. An Argive princess, she was an ancestor of many kings and heroes, such as Perseus, Cadmus, Heracles, Minos, Lynceus, Cepheus, and Danaus. The astronomer Simon Marius named a moon of Jupiter after Io in 1614.
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera Pavo and Afropavo within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are referred to as peahens, although peafowl of either sex are often referred to colloquially as "peacocks."
Semele, in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
In Greek mythology, Inachus,Inachos or Inakhos was the first king of Argos after whom a river was called Inachus River, that drains the western margin of the Argive plain.
Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and a designer of tapestries and prints. He was a prolific artist who created biblical, mythological, and allegorical compositions, genre scenes, landscapes, illustrations of Flemish sayings and portraits. After the death of Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he became the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his time. Unlike those illustrious contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study the Antique and Italian painting and, except for a few short trips to locations elsewhere in the Low Countries, he resided in Antwerp his entire life. He also remained largely indifferent to Rubens and van Dyck's intellectual and courtly aspirations. This attitude was expressed in his art through a lack of idealistic treatment which contrasted with that of these contemporaries.
Pavo is a constellation in the southern sky whose name is Latin for "peacock". Pavo first appeared on a 35-cm (14 in) diameter celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603, and was likely conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille gave its stars Bayer designations in 1756. The constellations Pavo, Grus, Phoenix and Tucana are collectively known as the "Southern Birds".
Argus or Argos Panoptes is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology.
Jupiter and Io is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio around 1530. It now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.
The gadfly, a type of fly plaguing cattle, appears in Greek mythology as a tormenter of Pegasus and Io, a human lover of Zeus.
Jealousy in religion examines how the scriptures and teachings of various religions deal with the topic of jealousy.
Io is an unfinished opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau in the form of a one-act acte de ballet. The date of its composition is unknown and it was probably unperformed during Rameau's lifetime. There is no overture or chorus and only a single dance. The score consists of recitative, arias and vocal ensembles.
The depiction of night in paintings is common in Western art. Paintings that feature a night scene as the theme may be religious or history paintings, genre scenes, portraits, landscapes, or other subject types. Some artworks involve religious or fantasy topics using the quality of dim night light to create mysterious atmospheres. The source of illumination in a night scene—whether it is the moon or an artificial light source—may be depicted directly, or it may be implied by the character and coloration of the light that reflects from the subjects depicted.
Venus, Adonis and Cupid is a painting created c. 1595 by Annibale Carracci. The painting is in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Annibale Carracci was one of the most well known Italian Baroque painters of the seventeenth century. The Carracci brothers established an academy of art called Accademia degli Incamminati, which pioneered the development of Bolognese Painting. Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio were among the most influential artists of this century, who through their unique artistic styles led to the transition from Mannerist to Baroque. Annibale was born in Bologna in 1560 and died in Rome in 1609.
The Birth of the Milky Way, also sometimes known as The Origin of the Milky Way, is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, produced between 1636 and 1638 and featuring the Greco-Roman myth of the origin of the Milky Way. The painting depicts Hera (Juno), spilling her breast milk, the infant Heracles (Hercules) and Zeus (Jupiter) in the background, identifiable by his eagle and lightning bolts. Hera's face is modelled on Rubens' wife, Hélène Fourment. The carriage is pulled by peacocks, a bird which the ancient Greeks and Romans considered sacred to both themselves and to Hera/Juno, as a result of their ability to signal changes in weather through cries and hence their perceived connection to the gods. Due to the dark background of the night sky the figures gain a greater sense of volume.
The Rape of Ganymede is a painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens produced between 1636 and 1638 painting for the Spanish king Philip IV of Spain's hunting lodge. The painting is based on a story recounted in classical poet Ovid´s Metamorphoses. It depicts the moment when the Roman supreme god Jupiter disguised as an eagle catches the young shepherd Ganymede and lifts him into the air. It is in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The dramatic scene gave Rubens ample opportunity to show his skill in depicting a lively scene and the nude.
Godfried Maes was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and designer of tapestries. He was active as a painter of altarpieces and allegorical scenes. He was a prolific draughtsman who made designs for tapestry workshops, publishers and house decorations. His patrons included leading personalities in the Southern Netherlands.
Mercury and Argus is an oil on panel painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. It was created between 1635 and 1638 and is now in the possession of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany. Another work on the same theme and with the same title, painted on canvas by Rubens between 1636 and 1638, is in the collection of the Prado Museum, Madrid.
Nocturnal appearance or Night vision is a painting made by Jacob Jordaens around 1650. It is in the collection of the Staatliches Museum Schwerin. The title of the painting is also given as A dream. The meaning and subject of the painting depicting a nude woman seen from the back in a dark bedroom with a man asleep on a bed and two onlookers behind a half open door are still a matter of contention among art historians. A second version of the painting was at the Thore (Burger) sale in Paris on 1892, then in the van Hall sale in Antwerp in 1836 and finally in 1905 it was in Paris with art dealer Franz Kleinberger who exhibited it in Antwerp.
