Mercury Delivering the Infant Bacchus into the Care of the Nymphs of Nyssa

The episode of Mercury delivering the infant Bacchus to the nymphs of Nyssa comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses: to protect the infant god of wine from Juno's jealous rage, Jupiter tasked Mercury with conveying the child to the care of the mountain nymphs who would raise him in secret. This act of divine concealment and nurture was a popular subject in the Baroque period, combining the elegant figure of Mercury — always depicted with winged sandals and caduceus — with the warm domesticity of the nursing nymph motif. Bon Boullogne's treatment, now in the Bowes Museum in County Durham, entered the British collection through the collecting activity of John and Josephine Bowes in the nineteenth century, when French Baroque painting was beginning to be revalued after decades of neglect. The undated canvas is consistent with Boullogne's mature Baroque manner and likely dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.

The pyramidal grouping of Mercury, the infant Bacchus, and the receiving nymph provides structural stability to what could otherwise be a centrifugal composition of airborne and terrestrial figures. Boullogne uses warm, golden light to envelop the infant and unify the group, with Mercury's silvery drapery providing a contrasting accent.