Description
In a popular story involving the loves of the gods from Greco-Roman mythology, the centaur Nessus escapes through the Euenus River with the abducted Deianira, the wife of Hercules, who comes to her rescue. Clad in a lion's skin, he is about to shoot the arrow which will kill the centaur. The cupid with a torch symbolizes the amorous passions that motivated Nessus. The old man with the urn gushing water is the river-god Euenus, and the attending women are nymphs, spirits of the water. The oval painting field indicates that the painting was to be set into a larger framework, and, indeed, Pozzi was primarily known for his decorative ensembles.
For more information on this painting, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 414, pp. 525-526.
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