Chapu has here shown Mercury as a beautiful, vigorous youth with two
light wings quivering on his head and winged sandals on his feet,
emblematic of his swiftness. He is touching the ground with his magic
wand round which two serpents entwine themselves.
The statue is in the Luxembourg.
[Illustration]
The Genius of Death.
“_This hour
Thou art the shadow of life, and as the tree
Stands in the sun and shadows all beneath,
So in the light of great eternity
Life eminent creates the shadow of death;
The shadow passeth when the tree shall fall,
But I shall reign forever over all._”
--TENNYSON.