Jupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and Baucis

Adam Elsheimer

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Adam Elsheimer. The drawing shows the interior of a room with wooden beams. Four people are in the room. A figure on the left is seated with legs outstretched. Another figure is seated at a table, which has a lit candle and a vessel on it. There is a further seated figure, and a standing person on the right. A bucket is hanging from the rafters and a picture hangs on the back wall. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 23 ADAM ELSHEIMER (b. 1578; d. 1610) JUPITER AND MERCURY IN THE HOUSE OF PHILEMON AND BAUCIS Collection of Captain E. G. Spencer Churchill at Northwick Park. Pen and sepia, with washes of sepia and Indian ink. 11 x 15.9 cm. (4 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.). This drawing, in which the manner of Rembrandt is anticipated to a remarkable degree, may be called a preliminary study for the composition engraved, in reverse, by Hendrik van Goudt in 1616 (Dutuit 5). The two gods sit nearer to one another than in the finished composition, but their attitudes are much the same, and many of the accessories - the vessels on the table, the picture on the wall, the bucket hanging from the rafters - appear again. The artist, on the other hand, had changed his mind completely about the action and place of Philemon and Baucis. C. D."