Loading...Hendrick Goltzius
(1558 - 1617)
Mercury
1611
Details
Type
Painting
Material and technique
Oil on canvas
Subject
Painting; history painting
Dimensions
238 x 143 x 15 cm
Identifier
os I-96
Source
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, long-term loan from the Mauritshuis, The Hague
Rights
Photo: René Gerritsen
About the artwork
Goltzius painted this life-size Roman god Mercury. His winged helmet and the serpentine staff are the clues. Mercury was the patron of the arts and rhetoric, which is why Goltzius gave him a brush and palette. And the girl poking her tongue? She represents idle chatter.