Mercury Presiding Over the Visual and Rhetoric Arts

1596

Jan Pietersz Saenredam, after Hendrick Goltzius

Associated Names
Jan Pietersz Saenredam

Artist, Dutch, 1565 - 1607

Hendrick Goltzius

Artist After, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

This drawing depicts a mythological scene involving Mercury, the Roman god, in a scholarly setting. Various characters are engaged in discussion, reading, and studying around a central statue of Mercury with a winged helmet. In the background, there are buildings and architectural elements, indicating an ancient city or town square. The composition shows figures engaged in activities associated with learning and intellect, such as holding a book or reading. The artwork combines ancient and Renaissance elements, and includes astrological symbols and celestial figures in the clouds, suggesting themes related to the transmission of knowledge and the arts under divine guidance.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ruth and Jacob Kainen Memorial Acquisition Fund

  • Dimensions

    plate: 25.6 × 17.8 cm (10 1/16 × 7 in.)
    sheet: 35.6 × 25.6 cm (14 × 10 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2022.31.6

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 55, State ii/ii

  • Series Title

    The Seven Planetary Gods and Their Children

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Nicolaas Teeuwisse, OHG, Berlin); purchased 2022 by NGA.

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. 72 vols. Amsterdam, 1980: XXIII: no. 55, ii/ii.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996, no. 662, ii/ii.

Inscriptions

in image, lower left, in plate: 6; below image, in plate: Me Dys commendat facunde gratia lingue, / Et varia rudibus monstro mortalibus artes; outside of plate, at left, in black ink by a later hand: G6

Markings

none

Watermarks

shield with three fleur de lys

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