Hercules and the Hydra of Lerna: Hercules grasps his club with both hands and confronts the seven-headed hydra, from the series 'The Labors of Hercules'
1608
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 5 3/16 x 7 1/16 in. (13.2 x 18 cm) plate: 3 15/16 x 5 9/16 in. (10 x 14.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.425.11
Tags
Art Historical Context
In this dynamic etching from 1608, Italian artist Antonio Tempesta captures the mythic drama of Hercules' second labor battling the monstrous Hydra of Lerna.icted with his club gripped firmly in both hands, the hero confronts the beast's writhing, seven-headed form—a fearsome creature from Greek mythology said to regrow two heads for every one severed. Tempesta, a prolific Florentine etcher known for his vivid mythological scenes, draws from classical tales popularized during the Renaissance, infusing the composition with tense action and heroic vigor. As part of Tempesta's renowned series *T...
About the Artist
Antonio Tempesta · 1555–1630
Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), known as 'Il Tempestino,' was a Florentine painter and printmaker whose extraordinary output of approximately 1,700 etchings made him one of the most influential printmakers of the early Baroque period. Born in Florence and trained under Santi di Tito and the Flemish master Joannes Stradanus, he enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1576 before relocating to Rome i...