The painting illustrates an episode from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Mercury prepares to send Argus to sleep, with the alluring melodies of his flute, and then to kill him at Jove’s command. Argus, the shepherd with a hundred eyes and immense strength, was entrusted by Juno to keep watch over the young Io, who was loved by Jove and transformed by him into a heifer. The painting entered the Ambrosiana collection as a work by the Neapolitan artist Salvator Rosa, but is now attributed to a late-seventeenth-century Genoese painter.
Pinacoteca, rooms 2 and 3, exhibition included in the admission ticket to the museum
Recovery of the functionality of the balconies of the Sala Federiciana, Borromeo and della Rosa through the installation of lifelines
Guided tour of the masterpieces of the Pinacoteca, together with professional guides of our official partner AdArtem
