White group depicting the myth of Mercury and Argus: the god was sent by Jupiter to kill Argus, who had been entrusted with the task of keeping guard over Io, transformed by Juno into a mare.

Argus is portrayed as a sleeping shepherd while Mercury, standing before him, is about to slay him.

This piece is the white version of a group well-known to scholars of art, which is generally cited together with a companion group, "Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa". Both groups (dated to around 1760-1770), painted in polychrome colors and complete with their base, are to be found today in the J.P.Getty Museum in Malibu. The model was cited in the inventory (p.22, nr. 18: "gruppo di Mercurio che taglia la testa ad Argo. di Gio. Batta. Foggini in cera con forma" [group of Mercury cutting off the head of Argus. by Gio. Batta. Foggini in wax with mold] and derived from the bronze that belonged to Ferdinando dei Medici, today on display at the National Bargello Museum.

In 1749 Vincenzo Foggini was paid "per gettare di cera il gruppo di Perseo e Medusa e per gettare di cera ..... il gruppo di Mercurio che taglia la testa ad Argo" [ for casting in wax the group of Perseus and Medusa and for casting in wax ... the group of Mercury cutting off the head of Argus] (Melegati, 1999, pp. 134-135).

For an analysis of the genesis of the model, see Ginori Lisci, Montagu, 1974, sheet 244; for the Argus myth, Guidorizzi, 2000, ad vocem. (L.M.)