Elsheimer had a definite preference for choosing rare or original subjects, both for his mythological and religious paintings. "Jupiter and Mercury in the house of Philemon and Baucis", (c. 1608, now Dresden) is based on an episode in Ovid, and had never been painted before. "The Mocking of Ceres "(Kingston, Ontario, a copy exists in the Prado), "Apollo and Coronis" (Liverpool), and "Il Contento" (Edinburgh) were equally new. Some of his religious scenes were more conventional, but his selection of the moment to depict, as in "St Lawrence prepared for Martyrdom" (London), is often unusual.