PIETRO DELLA VECCHIA 1603-1678

The painting is an unpublished work by 'Pietro della Vecchia known as Muttoni' (Vicenza 1603 - Venice 1678), illustrating one of the loves of the King of the Gods. This is the myth of Jupiter and the nymph Io. The loving god, under the spell of Io, daughter of Ithaca king of Argos, seduces her by turning into a cloud that covers the earth. The rather unusual phenomenon arouses suspicion in Juno, by now accustomed to her husband's infidelity.

Jupiter then decides, to protect Io from his wife's vengeance, to turn the nymph into a cow. But Juno discovers the stratagem and asks for the cow as a gift, demanding that it be given to him by Argos, the giant with a hundred eyes, who becomes her executioner. The panel represents the scene shortly after the metamorphosis of the nymph. Jupiter, accompanied by the eagle, his attribute, sits next to the cow, while Juno, intrigued, appears among the torn clouds, her index finger over her mouth. The god seems to lose his hieraticism and approaches the condition of mortals, slaves to instincts and needs. Jupiter sits unusually, on the ground, and tries to justify himself before a jealous wife.

Its a man with a robust and toned body, full of vigour and appetite, with a thick beard, curly, raven hair. These characteristics emphasise precisely sexual maturity as well as the role of the insatiable and vigorous seducer, much more than a figure of a wise and powerful ruler of men and gods. Moreover, Ovid's own text emphasises the rather grotesque character of the episode as Jupiter pronounces:"Do not be afraid to enter these forests alone [...] a god will serve as your guide and protector; and he will not be an ordinary god, but the very one who in his mighty hand holds the sceptre of the heavens and who throws lightning. Stop and do not run away! "...extract from the book Fior di Barba edited by Art Historian Laura Marchesini.