Mercury Killing Argus

Artist Jacob Jordaens Flemish, 1593 - 1678

Date1652

MediumEtching on laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 9 5/16 x 10 1/16 in. (23.7 x 25.6 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift in memory of Leon H. and Marie Buttlar Sparling by their family

Object number2008.20.19

On View

Not on view

Collections

Works on Paper

Signed"Iac. Iordaens inventor. 1652" engraved within the plate but outside the image area at the LL.

InscribedOn the reverse: Bottom edge in pencil very small printed letters "D (O ?)TIHCKA" "7" in LR corner, pencil Illegible possibly a number in UR, covered by hinge remnants Cut from an old mat and mounted with corners to the back of the present mat: cursive in pencil; at left "Jacob Jordaens/1593-1678/Flemish/ K-15", in the center "Mercury Killing Argus"/1652/Hollstein 7 i/ii [first state of two], right of center "WZ Foolscap" and at far right "Etching/$1,750"

MarkingsWatermark of a large jester's head along right edge, center with a second "V" shaped watermark on the opposite side near the cows neck.

DescriptionIn a treed, rocky landscape a male figure holding a sword in both hands over the seated, sleeping body of a larger, bearded figure. The horned front quarter of a cow standing at the left, the front half of a barking dog in the lower right. Representing Mercury slaying Argus who is protecting Io in the guise of a heifer (see Notes)

First state of two. The second state having the address of Abraham Blooteling.Exhibition History"Old Master Prints from the Sparling Family Collection", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, February 28 - May 24, 2009.

“Prosperity and Exclusion,” The Hyde Collection, Hoopes and Whitney-Renz Galleries, May 31 – Sept. 21, 2025ProvenanceNew York, NY, David Tunick
2006, Houston, TX, Tobin Sparling
2008, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust