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| Cristofano Gherardi Mercury 1555 fresco Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Abraham Bloemaert Mercury, Argus and Io 1645 oil on canvas Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna |
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| Roman Empire Mercury 2nd century AD marble Museo Nacionale de Arte Romano, Mérida |
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| Jacob van der Ulft Piazza with Statue of Mercury ca. 1660 drawing Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
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| Wheeler Williams Head of Mercury 1935 plaster Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC |
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| Jacob Jordaens Mercury and Battus ca. 1635-40 oil on panel Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam |
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| Adriaen Collaert Mercury before 1618 engraving Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich |
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| Joseph Heintz the Elder Ceres, Venus, Mars and Mercury in a Landscape before 1609 drawing Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
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| Jan Boeckhorst Mercury and Herse ca. 1650-55 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Max Klinger Cupid and Apollo 1880 etching and aquatint Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York |
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| Heinrich Maria von Hess Apollo and the Muses 1826 oil on canvas Neue Pinakothek, Munich |
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| Felice Giani Apollo before 1823 drawing British Museum |
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| Anselm Feuerbach Study for Apollo driving the Chariot of the Sun before 1880 drawing British Museum |
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| Guillaume Coustou the Younger Apollo ca. 1750 limestone (demi-relief) Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island |
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| Ferdinand Dietz Apollo ca. 1760 lindenwood bozzetto Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich |
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| Francesco Primaticcio Apollo driving the Chariot of the Sun before 1570 drawing (study for ceiling painting) Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
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| Balthasar Permoser Apollo ca. 1720-30 sandstone Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich |
from Hymn to Hermes
[Mercury denies stealing Apollo's cattle]
'O, let not e'er this quarrel be averred!
The astounded Gods would laugh at you, if e'er
You should allege a story so absurd,
As that a new-born infant forth could fare
Out of his house after a savage herd.
I was born yesterday – my small feet are
Too tender for the roads so hard and rough –
And if you think that this is not enough,
'I swear a great oath, by my father's head,
That I stole not your cows, and that I know
Of no one else, who might, or could, or did –
Whatever things cows are, I do not know,
For I have only heard the name.' – This said,
He winked as fast as could be, and his brow
Was wrinkled, and whistle loud gave he,
Like one who hears some strange absurdity.
Apollo gently smiled and said: – 'Aye, aye, –
You cunning little rascal, you will bore
Many a rich man's house, and your array
Of thieves will lay their siege before his door,
Silent as night, in night; and many a day
In the wild glens rough shepherds will deplore
That you or yours, having an appetite,
Met with their cattle, comrade of the night!
'And this among the Gods shall be your gift,
To be considered as the lord of those
Who swindle, house-break, sheep-steal, and shop-lift; –
But now, if you would not your last sleep doze,
Crawl out!' –
– Homeric Hymns (8th-6th century BC), translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)