Having studied in Florence under Giovanni Bologna, he carried into Bohemia and Germany the influence of the Italian Renaissance. In Prague he worked under the patronage of Emperor Rudolf II, of whom he made busts and reliefs, which are now in Vienna. His finest works, done in Augsburg, are the Mercury and Hercules and the Hydra fountains. Among his bronzes are Mercury and Psyche (Louvre) and Triton (Metropolitan Mus.).
Adriaan De Vries
1546-1626
Mercury and Psyche
Prague
1593
Group in bronze
H 2.15 m, W 0.92 m; D 0.72 m
Collection of the French Crown
Entered the Louvre around 1877
MR 3270
At the end of 16th century and at the beginning of the 17th, the court of Emperor Rudolph II at Prague enjoyed a period of feverish artistic creativity thanks to the presence of some of the most famous European Mannerists. The Dutchman Adriaan De Vries, who trained in Florence under Giambologna, executed two pendant groups for rague Castle, Psyche carried by Cupids and this one, Psyche borne by Mercury to Olympus where she rejoined Eros. Seized as booty by the Swedish troops in 1648, the first of these is now in Stockholm while the second, a diplomatic gift, ntered the ministerial collections before embellishing the royal parks of Versailles and then Marly. The grand Mannerist spiral animates the group which owes its serpentine line and sense of space to the creations of Giambologna.
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