Landscape with Mercury and the Dishonest Woodman

An honest woodman who had lost his axe was rewarded by Mercury with a golden one when he denied that his own had been of precious metal. A dishonest woodman thereupon claimed that he had lost a golden axe; Mercury recovered it and showed it was merely of iron (Aesop's 'Fables').

This picture cannot be dated securely but is a mature work.