Domenichino and assistants, 'Mercury stealing the Herds of Admetus', 1616-18
About the work
Overview
A young man, naked but for a red cloak and an animal skin, is seated on a rock in the foreground, playing a pipe. This is Apollo, Greek god of the sun and of music and art, dressed as a shepherd. As a punishment for killing the Cyclops, Jupiter sent him to be herdsman to Admetus, king of Pherae in Thessaly. Apollo, distracted from his duties by his music, failed to notice Mercury stealing the king’s cattle, shown in the background.
This is one of ten frescoes by Domenichino and assistants which once decorated a magnificent garden pavilion at the Villa Aldobrandini, in Frascati near Rome. Although Domenichino designed the overall programme, much of the actual painting was left to assistants, especially on the right-hand side of the room, since by the time work got this far he was busy with other projects.
This fresco’s poor condition makes it impossible to distinguish individual hands, but its composition is constructed in a very different way to the other paintings in the series. Unusually there are no surviving preparatory drawings for this painting, but that may be purely an accident of survival.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Mercury stealing the Herds of Admetus guarded by Apollo
- Artist
- Domenichino and assistants
- Artist dates
- 1581 - 1641
- Part of the series
- Villa Aldobrandini Frescoes
- Date made
- 1616-18
- Medium and support
- fresco, transferred to canvas
- Dimensions
- 261.6 × 201.9 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1958
- Inventory number
- NG6291
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1965The National Gallery, The National Gallery: June 1962 - December 1964, London 1965
-
1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: Villa Aldobrandini Frescoes

Overview
These large frescoes (now transferred to canvas) once decorated the walls of a spectacular pavilion in one of the great Italian Baroque gardens.
The Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati was rebuilt by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VIII, in the early years of the seventeenth century. Immediately behind the palace, he built a large classical pavilion and decorated it with fountains, statues and paintings. Domenichino’s frescoes – two of which remain in situ – were arranged around a room called the Stanza di Apollo, which also contained a musical fountain representing Mount Parnassus, the mythical home of the Greek sun god Apollo and the Muses. Based on themes drawn from the Greek myths, the iconographical programme glorified the triumph of the Catholic Church, and the role of the Aldobrandini family in it, emphasising the superiority of the intellect over the emotions.
Although Domenichino designed the pictures, much of the actual painting was done by assistants.