The Story
River Landscape with Mercury Abducting Psyche by Simon Novellanus. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1946
Created in 1600 during the Late Renaissance/Mannerism period, this work belongs firmly within the daily life tradition. Simon Novellanus worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Etching; first state of two, measuring Sheet: 10 11/16 x 13 3/8 in. (27.2 x 34 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Simon Novellanus builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
