A bronze Mercury
Description
Bronze statue of Mercury, after Giambologna, late 19th / early 20th century.
Mercury, the Roman messenger god and god of merchants, also recognized as the Greek swift messenger of the gods, Hermes. This piece is the exact copy of the version in the large exhibition hall at Beursplein 5 in the Berlage Stock Exchange Amsterdam. Mercury in many forms has been a symbol for stock exchange trading in the Netherlands for centuries.
The original statue was created in 1563 by sculptor Giambologna and can still be seen in Florence. It was very innovative in its time due to its detailed muscle analysis and balance execution. Unlike all Mercury images up to that point, the image is very dynamic. Mercury seems to be about to fly away at any moment. Driven by the wind from the mouth of Aeolus, the god of the wind, he shows the fair the right way: that of moving in balance.
Dimensions: Height 190 cm, width 50 cm, depth 100 cm.
FIG-125
