Mercury and Psyche
by VRIES, Adriaen de, Bronze, height 215 cm
Adriaen de Vries’s first documented independent work is the over life-size bronze group of Mercury and Psyche, a work that owes much in composition and style to similar two-figure groups by Giambologna. This group was executed in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. It was taken as booty by the Swedish army, then transported to France by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1654 after her abdication.