Jupiter and Mercury at Philemon and Baucis (detail)

Among the inventions not from Ovid but unique to the painting is a picture on the wall, probably a coloured print. On examining an engraving taken from the painting, Goethe considered that the print showed one of Jupiter’s ‘amorous pranks performed with Mercury’s aid’. There may well be a streak of humour in the way that Jupiter’s gaze glides over the picture. At the same time, this picture within a picture reflects the very function of the cabinet picture we are looking at.