Episodes from the Labours of Hercules
Flemish School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1500 - 1599
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
330 x 264 mm (13 x 10 3/8 in)
Place of origin
Flanders
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515738
Caption
Having killed his children during a bout of madness, Hercules was advised by the Delphic oracle to go to Tiryns and serve its king, Eurystheus, for twelve years as penance for his crime. He was also told to carry out all tasks imposed on him by the king and their completion would earn him immortality. These tasks became the twelve labours of Hercules. The composition is a fragment of a larger picture, which once showed all of the twelve labours. It shows the standing figure of Hercules in the foreground, and in the background, two of the Labours are shown: the capturing of one of the horses of Diomedes and Hercules wrestling with Antaeus.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Episodes from the Labours of Hercules, Flemish School, 16th century. A woodland grove, on the right, in for foreground, is the naked Hercules, draped with the skin of the Nemean Lion. To the far left Hercules can be seen standing in front of a rearing white horse – one of the mares of Diomedes and in the centre he can be seen wrestling with Antaeus by lifting him off the ground.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Wooden frame, inscribed 'Geryonem Victor Triplici Cum Corpore Fudet'.
Makers and roles
Flemish School, artist