Hercules and Antaeus (with a Base Below)
late 18th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, gray wash , over black chalk
Dimensions
8 1/2 x 6 in. (21.6 x 15.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.491
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 18th century, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, son of the famed Venetian master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, the dramatic clash of *Hercules and Ant (with a Base Below)* this intimate drawing. Depicting the mythological moment when the hero Hercules lifts the earth-born giant Antaeus—whose strength derived from touching the ground—to crush him, the work exemplifies Tiepolo's flair for dynamic Rococo narratives. Rendered on a modest scale of 8½ x 6 inches, it likely served as a preparatory study, perhaps for a fresco, print, or sculptural base, blending classical myth with the lively energy...
About the Artist
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo · 1727–1804
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) was a Venetian painter, printmaker, and draftsman whose career spanned the twilight of the Rococo era. Born on August 30, 1727, in Venice as the eldest son of the celebrated Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, he worked both in his father's shadow and as a significant independent artist who developed a distinctly earthbound and humanistic vision. Domenico's importance...