Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Io.
The gallery
Jupiter and Io
Antonio da Correggio, c. 1530
Correggio's Vienna canvas shows Zeus as a dark cloud embracing Io — the Argive maiden's seduction before the cow-transformation that Hera will force. Oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Mercury and Argus
Peter Paul Rubens, 1636
Rubens stages Hermes lulling hundred-eyed Argus while Io, still a heifer, waits for rescue — Hera's watch broken so the wanderer can flee. Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.
Mercury and Argus
Diego Velázquez, c. 1659
Velázquez darkens the killing of Argus: Mercury with panpipes beside the sleeping guard, Io's bovine form the reason for the murder. Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Myth of Io
Bartolomeo di Giovanni, c. 1490
A Florentine cassone panel unrolls Io's story in frieze: Zeus' pursuit, the cow, Argus, and Hermes — the Argive wanderer's myth as Renaissance narrative sequence. Tempera on panel, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
Io watched by Argus (Pompeii fresco)
Unknown (Roman), 1st century AD
A Pompeian wall painting from the House of Meleager shows Io with bovine horns under Argus' gaze — the jealous watch before Hermes' rescue, preserved in Naples. Fresco, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
In play
Io (moon)
Jupiter's volcanic innermost moon keeps the wanderer's name — Io as a world of fire beside the god who pursued her.
Io (mythology)
Io remains the cow-maiden driven across continents — Hera's gadfly, the Argive ancestress, and the emblem of divine jealousy.