Personification of the Planet Mercury

Author: Klazina Botke

This intriguing drawing depicts the Roman god Mercury, messenger of the gods, with his cloak streaming in the wind. He is identified by his winged sandals and helmet. In his right hand he holds a globe and in the left the caduceus, a staff with two snakes winding around it which he had received from Apollo. He stands on a cloud with a cockerel at his feet, the harbinger of a new day. The pointed star and the surrounding shadow, which becomes lighter as it spreads outwards, make the figure appear to radiate. In Turin there is a similar drawing with a winged Venus, whose feet rest on a terrestrial globe (fig.). She is accompanied by two doves and Cupid, who crowns her. The star sign Taurus appears in the upper part of that sheet. Both drawings were probably part of a larger series of personifications of the planets.^[1] The drawings have an older example in the fresco decorations in the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua.^[2] This fresco cycle (completed in 1440) by Giovanni Nicolò Miretto (active 1423-c.1440) and Stefano da Ferrara, depicts the influence of the planets on everyday life and work, with the personifications of the planets carrying a similar pointed star behind them.

The Rotterdam drawing, like the sheet in Turin, is attributed to the Venetian artist Girolamo Mocetto. Born on Murano, he worked as a stained-glass artist, painter and engraver.^[3] A painting by him, now in London, reveals his admiration for the work of Andrea Mantegna (1430/1431-1506); the poses of a number of figures are taken directly from the engravings of his famous contemporary.^[4] In his own prints, which are often large, and sometimes even printed from more than one plate, Mocetto frequently reproduced the graphic work of others.^[5] It may be that he copied an existing engraving for his drawing of Mercury, which would explain the rather stiff rendition. However, the sheet could equally well be a preliminary study for one of his own prints.^[6] To date, there is no known print series which features such personifications of the planets.