ROME, CIRCA 1830

This composition is after a painting by Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), Mercury and Argus, now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Kansas City, Missouri. The scene is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. One of Jupiter’s many loves was Io, a princess of Argos. When this was discovered by his wife, Juno, she turned Io into a white heifer, and handed the animal over to the hundred-eyed giant, Argus, to guard. Mercury was sent by Jupiter to kill the giant, which he did after first lulling him to sleep with music. Classical subjects such as this one were popular sources for mosaicists. An Italian purpurine snuff-box by Tomasso Calandrelli with the same micromosaic scene on the cover is in the Royal Collection. Another example is in the Gilbert Collection at the Victoria & Albert museum.