The ancient roman poet ovid, in his "the metamorphoses," told the story of the nymph io who was seduced by jupiter, the king of the gods. When his wife juno became jealous, jupiter transformed io into a heifer to protect her. This panel relates the second half of the story. In the upper left, jupiter emerges from clouds to order mercury to rescue io. In the lower left, mercury guides his herd to the spot where io is guarded by the hundred-eyed argus. In the upper center, mercury, disguised as a shepherd, lulls argus to sleep and beheads him. Juno then takes argus's eyes to ornament the tail feathers of her peacock and sends the furies to pursue io, who flees to the nile river. At last, jupiter prevails on his wife to cease tormenting the nymph, who, upon resuming her natural form, escapes to the forest and ultimately becomes the egyptian goddess isis. The panel was originally paired with another that depicted the first part of the story. The two were probably once installed in a house in florence. For more information on this panel, please see zeri catalogue number 64, pp. 100-101. Date: circa 1490 (Early Renaissance). Place of creation: Florence, Italy. Dimensions: Painted surface height: 65 cm (25.5 in); width: 171.5 cm (67.5 in); depth: 3.2 cm (1.2 in). Medium: tempera and oil on wood panel. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Bartolomeo di Giovanni - The Myth of Io - Walters 37421
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