In The Metamorphosis, the poet Ovid very precisely describes the moment when Mercury, on his way to Athens, met a group of Nymphs carrying offerings to the goddess Palas. Mercury immediately fell in love with Herse, the most beautiful of all. The canvas, with an extremely horizontal format, sets the scene in a wooded landscape where the nymphs chat and play on their way towards the temple in the background. Mercury appears in full flight on the right, over a river whose prolongation opens the pe

This canvas and its companion, Taste, Hearing and Touch (P1404), represent the five senses embodied by female figures in palatial interiors. The sense of smell is conveyed by a woman holding flowers, while Sight contemplates herself in a mirror held by a cherub. They are located in a hall filled with paintings and sculptures, a sort of cabinet of paintings that could reflect an idealized representation of the collections of the Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia de Austria (1