Mercurius en Argus, Claude Lorrain, 1662
Claude Lorrain, portraitClaude LorrainFrench, 1600–1682

Mercurius en Argus

1662 · Print

May one see it?

Unknown

Rijksmuseum

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.

Source
The museum

About the work

In the museum's own words — in Dutch

Argus zit op een steen bij de ingang van een tempel. Voor hem ligt de in een koe veranderde Io. Mercurius staat naast Argus en speelt op een blaasinstrument om hem in slaap te sussen.

Rijksmuseum

Particulars

Accession number
RP-P-1965-1029

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Meanwhile, in the life of Claude Lorrain

The whole life
  1. 1660s

    Visits his neighbour Nicolas Poussin

    Claude’s neighbour was Nicolas Poussin, whom he visited in the 1660s.

  2. 1660–1680

    Works more slowly, but still with success

    In his last two decades (1660–80) Claude worked more slowly but always with success; to this period belongs the series of the “Moments of the Day”: “Noon”, “Evening”, “Night” and “Morning in the Harbour”.

  3. 1662

    Nephews join the household

    In 1662 a nephew, Jean, son of Denis Gellée, joined the household, and around 1680 another, Joseph, son of Melchior; Baldinucci took much of his information about Claude from a nephew who lived with the artist.

  4. 1663

    A grave illness: a will drawn up, then recovery

    Claude, who suffered badly from gout, fell so gravely ill in 1663 that he drew up a will, but he recovered.

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Neighbors at Rijksmuseum

Museum page

On the same theme · Mercury lulls Argus into sleep by making music

All works on the theme