This is one of a set of ten panels by the Brescian fresco painter Lattanzio Gambara, eight of which are in the Royal Collection. The fresco cycle depicts scenes from Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses’, and was painted for the Palazzo Pedrocca-Scaglia in Brescia. The Palace was destroyed in 1853 and shortly before this date the frescoes were removed from the walls and transferred to canvas. In 1856 they were purchased by Ludwig Gruner for Prince Albert as examples of the fresco painting technique for artists working on the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament.

The subject of this panel is Mercury. He is seated, facing right, his head turned sharply to the left. He is wearing a winged helmet and has wings on his feet, with the caduceus in his right hand, crossed over his left, which rests on an upturned trumpet. He is set in a window embrasure which recedes to the right with grey-blue sky behind. A grey robe with red shadows is knotted over his right shoulder. His pose is a reversal of that of the ‘ignundo’ to the left above the ‘Persian Sibyl’ on the Sistine Ceiling.

In 1807 Nicoli Cristiani penned a description of the sala of the Pedrocca Palace with the frescoes in situ. Although it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of the room precisely, it suggests that this panel was over one of the six doors.