Currently not on view
Mercury Abducting Psyche: Mercury Seen in Profile,
ca. 1597
Jan Harmensz Müller, Dutch, 1571–1628
after Adriaen de Vries, Dutch, ca. 1545–1626
Published by Hermen Jansz. Müller, Dutch, ca. 1540–1617
after Adriaen de Vries, Dutch, ca. 1545–1626
Published by Hermen Jansz. Müller, Dutch, ca. 1540–1617
x1982-6
The Amsterdam printmaker Jan Müller reproduced works by his contemporaries, including his brother-in-law Adriaen de Vries, court sculptor to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague and leading representative of the international Mannerist style—as exemplified by the elegant and elongated figures of his monumental bronze Mercury Abducting Psyche. In this masterpiece of spiraling complexity, De Vries evoked the mythological episode in which Mercury, winged messenger to the gods, bears the beautiful mortal Psyche aloft to Mount Olympus. Müller’s virtuoso engraving is one of three widely disseminated prints by him that represent the sculpture from different angles.
Information
Title
Mercury Abducting Psyche: Mercury Seen in Profile
Dates
ca. 1597
Maker
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
trimmed to plate: 50 × 25.2 cm (19 11/16 × 9 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Object Number
x1982-6
Place Made
Europe, Netherlands, Amsterdam
Inscription
Inscribed, dedicated, and signed in plate on pedestal, lower center: IVSSV RHVDOLPHI. II. CÆSARIS AVGVSTI, / ADRIANVS DE VRIES HAGIENSIS FACIEBAT PRAGÆ. / OPVS ALTITVDINIS PEDVM OCTO. 1593. / In gratiam D: Adriani de Vries, Cognati sui chariß:mi / Sculpebat Iohannes Mullerus. / Harman: Muller: excudebat
Marks/Labels/Seals
watermarks: city gate and GS
Reference Numbers
Bartsch 292.82; Hollstein 56; New Hollstein 82
Type
Materials
Techniques
Subject
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F.W.H. Hollstein, “Meer-Ossenbeeck,” Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1956).
, no. 56 - Old Master and Modern Prints 7 (1982)., no. 26 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70., p. 66
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Jan Piet Filedt Kok, edited by Ger Luijten and Christiann Schuckman, "The Muller Dynasty," New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700 (Rotterdam : Sound & Vision Interactive in co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1999-).
, no. 82
