Hermes, Herse und Aglauros

This comes from late in Veronese's life, around 1580, when he ran one of the busiest workshops in Venice. The subject is a rare one, taken from Ovid: Mercury, messenger of the gods, has come to seduce the Athenian princess Herse, and her jealous sister Aglauros stands in the doorway to block him. Veronese catches the single instant before it goes wrong for her. Mercury lifts his wand, and the shadow it throws across Aglauros's back is faintly pink, picking up the veins of the marble column beside her, the very stone she is about to be turned into. Around them he lays out the textures he was loved for, satin and fur and gold and polished wood, down to the little spaniel at Herse's feet.