Jupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and Baucis

Jupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and Baucis

Hendrick Goudt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this mythological scene, the elderly couple Philemon and Baucis offer their generous hospitality to the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who have disguised themselves as weary travelers. Oil lamps and candles gently illuminate the various surfaces of the dark interior: wooden furnishings, glass and ceramic vessels, glistening grapes, scaly fish, and even a framed painting hanging on the wall.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and BaucisJupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and BaucisJupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and BaucisJupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and BaucisJupiter and Mercury in the House of Philemon and Baucis

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.