Scenes from the Story of Io

The size and shape of the panel suggest that it was used in a domestic setting as a spalliera which would have been attached at shoulder height to a cassone, or marriage chest. Its secular subject matter is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and tells the story of Io.

The beginning of the story, in which Jupiter transformed himself into a cloud to seduce the young Io, is not shown in the present panel, most likely because it was depicted on a companion spalliera. Here Biagio’s pictorial interpretation of the narrative runs from left to right and is mostly faithful to the second part of Ovid’s original. In order to deceive his wife Juno, Jupiter transformed Io into a heifer, seen here at left, but Juno, aware of the ruse, demanded to be given the cow as a gift. When she charged the hundred-eyed Argus to watch over the heifer, Jupiter sent his loyal servant Mercury to rescue Io, seen upper left. After lulling Argus to sleep with music from his hand-pipes, Mercury decapitated him and set Io free (not shown here). Argus’s eyes were then placed by Juno in the peacock’s tail (where they remain to this day). Io, still in the form of a heifer, is subsequently seen panting on the bank of the Nile fleeing from Juno’s persecution. She is depicted looking up begging for forgiveness from the queen of the gods, seen upper right beside Jupiter, who also pleads on Io’s behalf. Io was indeed eventually forgiven and is seen restored to her human form on the right side of the bank where she is welcomed back into her family.