Helizabeth de Rusconibus
Italian, active 1527
At left is a single leaf of an edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses,
printed by Helizabeth de Rusconibus, who continued the family's
printing business in Venice after her husband's death. The
leaf contains a single, crudely-executed woodcut which illustrates
the story
of Mercury and Herse from Book 2. Mercury, after hiding Apollo's
herd, is flying over the farmlands and woods of Attica, when he sees
a procession of young girls on their way to the sanctuary of Minerva.
He especially notices the beautiful Herse, one of the daughters of
Cecrops, and Mercury descends to earth in the hope of an amorous
encounter. Her jealous sister, Aglauros, however, blocks the doorway
and will
not allow the god to enter. For this -- and because she had previously
broken a vow to Athene -- Mercury turned Aglauros into a statue.
Other works in the exhibition:
- P. Ouidij Metamorphosin cu[mque] Luculentissimis Raphaelis
Regij Enarrationibus,
Venetiis: Helizabeth de Rusconibus, 1527.
