Artwork
Luna and Mercury (from Stodmarsh Court, Kent)
Luna and Mercury (from Stodmarsh Court, Kent) is an unspecified painting by the Mannerist artist Virgil Solis. It is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Virgil Solis’s painting titled Luna and Mercury, executed around the year 1600, depicts the Roman deities of the Moon and the messenger god.
Virgil Solis’s painting titled Luna and Mercury, executed around the year 1600, depicts the Roman deities of the Moon and the messenger god. The work forms part of a larger decorative scheme originally installed at Stodmarsh Court in Kent, England. Today the piece is part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where it is displayed as an example of early seventeenth‑century Northern European painting.
Subject & Meaning
The composition presents Luna, the personification of the Moon, alongside Mercury, the swift‑footed god of commerce and communication. Their pairing reflects a common allegorical practice of the period, linking celestial cycles with earthly exchange, and may have been intended to convey themes of illumination, guidance, and the flow of information within the domestic setting of Stodmarsh Court.
History & Provenance
Created by the German artist and printmaker Virgil Solis, the painting was originally commissioned for the interior of Stodmarsh Court, a manor house in Kent. Over the centuries the work left the estate and entered the art market, eventually being acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it remains in the museum’s holdings as a representative piece of Solis’s oeuvre.
Artist & collection
Artist
Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514 – 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg.
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