Hercules and the Nemean Lion: Hercules grasps the front right leg of the lion, which lifts its snout upward, in the middle ground Hercules pulls the skin from the lion's corpse, 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
2012.136.425.10
Tags
Art Historical Context
In this dynamic etching from Antonio Tempesta's series *The Labors of* (1608), the heroic demigod confronts his first legendary challenge: slaying the invincible Nemean Lion. The composition captures two pivotal moments—the central struggle where Hercules grips the beast's front leg as it rears up defiantly, and in the background, the victor stripping the lion's impenetrable pelt from its corpse. This myth, rooted in ancient Greek lore and popularized in Roman tales, symbolizes Hercules' superhuman strength and triumph over chaos, a theme that resonated deeply in Renaissance and Baroque art as...
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...