# Young Mercury Stealing Cattle from the Herd of Apollo

- By: Girolamo da Santacroce (ca.1480-1556) (Santa Croce, ca. –1556)
- Date: 1530 - 1550
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: depth 6.5 cm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-3966--b10a08c1777f09961dba96833e6af044)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/cf4a355e610a1b32bb4944522636e328.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Having been banished from Olympus, Apollo now toils as a cowherd. Engrossed in playing the flute, he is unaware that his half-brother Mercury is busy pilfering his cattle. The little thief has wings on his feet. The lyre, a stringed instrument, hanging from a tree trunk is believed to have been invented by Mercury and served as a medium of exchange for the stolen cattle.