Minerva and the Young Mercury
Artist
Noël Nicolas Coypel
(French, 1690-1734)
Date1729
Object number61.0186
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsframe: 41 3/4 x 47 7/8 x 3 in., (106 x 121.6 x 7.6 cm,)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineMuseo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Collections
DescriptionIn this work, Noël Nicolas Coypel presents an allegory of eloquence inspired by Cesare Ripa's description in his emblem book "Iconologia", a key iconographic source for seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting. The lightning bolt in her right hand, according to Ripa's interpretation, symbolizes "[t]hat with the same ease with which [lightning] brings down the highest towers, Eloquence overthrows the obstinacy of the ignorant, and ruins from top to bottom the opinions which they have built on bad foundations."
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