Michele Rocca Parma 1666 (?) - 1751 or after Venice (?)

The subject is taken from Hesiod’s Works and Days. The titan Prometheus modelled the first man from clay in the image of the Gods but on completing his creation, he found his brother Epimetheus had used all of the gifts of the gods on all the other creatures. Prometheus, feeling sorry for mankind, decided with the aid of Minerva to steal fire from the chariot of the sun and give it to mankind. Jupiter, furious at the theft, sent Pandora and her box containing all the evils of the world to punish mankind and end the Golden Age. For the immortal Prometheus he reserved a far crueller punishment, ordering Mercury to chain him to a rock in the Caucasus, and sent an eagle every dawn to peck out his liver.