Emma Stafford (University of Leeds)
Room N, Via Latina
catacombs, Rome, C4th AD:
Hercules and the hydra;
with Alcestic and Cerberus;
in the Hesperides’ garden.
Hercules adorning Christian churches:
13th-century baptistry pulpit of Pisa cathedral; 13th-century relief
from west facade of St Mark’s, Venice; door-jamb of Porta della
Mandorla, Florence (1391-1405).
Groups of
labours in
Renaissance
art
(clockwise):
Triumph of
Hercules tapestry
(1513-21); Lucas
Cranach the
Elder, Antaeus
(c.1530);
Annibale
Fontana, rockcrystal intaglio,
Achelous (156070); Francisco de
Zubaran,
Cerberus (1634).
< Albrecht Durer, Hercules
Killing the Stymphalian Birds
(1500).
↓ Frederic Lord Leighton,
Hercules Fights Death for
Alcestis (1869-71)
Hendrick Goltzius,
Hercules Victor, 1617
(New York). Text:
I, Hercules, terror of the world,
rest, weary after subduing the
three-formed king of further
Spain and after taking the
apples from the turning-point of
Hesperus, where the neversleeping serpent had guarded
them in gardens of gold.
> The Farnese
Herakles, Romanimperial period copy
of original of c.325
BC (Naples).
Giambologna, Hercules and Nessus
(1599).
Canova, Hercules and Lichas
(c.1795).
Hercules at the crossroads: Cranach (c.1500), Veronese (c.1580),
Poussin
(1594-1665),
Caracci
(1595-7),
Paolo dei
Matteis
(1712).
1531 Augsburg edition: ‘Those who
venture on what is beyond their powers’
(Hercules and pygmies) and ‘Eloquence
superior to strength’ (the Gallic Hercules).
Andrea Alciato, Emblemata (1612
Padua edition) no.138: ‘The
Twelve Labours of Hercules’.
> Holbein, portrait of Erasmus
(1523).
↓ Holbein, Hercules Germanicus
(1522): Luther tramples Aristotle
and Thomas Aquinas.
HERCULES AND OMPHALE
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1537,
Braunschweig); Abraham
Jenssens (1607, Copenhagen);
François Lemoine, Hercules and
Omphale (1724, Paris).
Lucas Cranach the Younger, The
Sleeping Hercules Beset by
Pygmies (Dresden, 1551);
Lorenzo Lotto, portrait of Andrea
Odoni (1527, Hampton Court);
Rubens, Drunken Hercules
(c.1612, Dresden).
< Antonio Pollaiuolo, version of
hydra image from Medici palace
(c.1475, Florence).
↓ Bandinelli, Hercules and Cacus
(1534), Piazza della Signoria,
Florence.
The French monarchical
Hercules:
Louis XIII as Hercules the
Emperor (1635); Louis XIV
conquering the Triple Alliance,
on Porte Saint Martin (1668).
David’s design for
colossal statue of
Hercules:
on sketch for state
seal (1793-4) >
In Festival of
Supreme Being
(1794) ↓
The French People Overwhelming
the Hydra of Federalism
Steve Reeves as Hercules
(labove), and magazine advert
for Hercules.
And again in Hercules Unchained
(1959)...
A selection of 1960s Hercules films.
Below right: Mark Forest in Mole Men
Against the Son of Hercules (1961).
Arnold Schwarznegger (aka Strong) as
Hercules in New York (1970), originally dubbed
but more recently with his own voice restored.
Lou Ferrigno (aka the Incredible Hulk) as Hercules in 1983,
with Sybil Danning as Queen Ariadne.
Kevin Sorbo in Hercules the Legendary
Journeys.
(Above right) With Lucy Lawless in Xena
Warrior Princess.
Hercules’ love interests (clockwsie):
Deianeira x 2 (Renee O’Connor, Tawny
Kitaen), Serena, Iole, the 50 daughters
of Thespios...
(Left) Hercules and Uncle
Iolaus...
Disney’s Hercules (1997).
Hercules’ double family: Zeus and Hera,
Alcmene and Amphitryon; NB contrasting
colour schemes for Olympus and earth.
Marvel Comics’ take on Hercules:
Above left: Hercules meets the
Mighty Thor (1974).
Right: covers from the more recent
series The Incredible Hercules
(2008-10).
HERAKLES NOW
Left: Marian
Maguire’s
Herakles Takes
Up Dairy Farming,
lithograph 2006/7.
Right: Two logos
familiar in
Greece today.