Mercury dressed in a futtering robe standing on a staircase 1548 - 1612

Editor: Here we have "Mercury dressed in a futtering robe standing on a staircase" by Bernardino Poccetti, created sometime between 1548 and 1612. It's a charcoal drawing, bathed in warm reddish-brown tones. There's something almost ephemeral about it, like a fleeting vision. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Ephemeral, yes! Like a whispered secret from the Renaissance. It makes me think about how artists used drawing. Not just as preparation for painting, but as a space for exploring ideas. Poccetti seems to be chasing the perfect form of Mercury. See how the charcoal gives his form a vibrant, almost pulsating energy? He's captured mid-stride, isn’t he? A study of movement, really. Almost cinematic. What does his gaze evoke in you? Editor: A sense of determination, perhaps? He looks upward, maybe towards some divine destination. But the drawing itself feels… incomplete. Deliberately so? Curator: Precisely! It’s in that incompleteness, that potential, where the magic lies, don’t you think? Think about Renaissance workshops, assistants, commissions... perhaps this was part of a larger work. The unfinished quality is like an invitation. We’re asked to complete the narrative, fill in the spaces between the lines, imagine the context. It becomes our Mercury as much as Poccetti's. Editor: I hadn't considered the collaborative aspect. Seeing it as a snapshot of a process rather than just a finished work... that really opens it up. Thanks! Curator: Absolutely! It’s like finding a fragment of a dream. The charcoal dust contains the artist's breath, doesn't it? That’s the joy of art.