Hercules en de Nemeïsche leeuw
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
117; 185
About this artwork
ets en gravure
Art Historical Context
**Hercules and theemean Lion** is a dynamic engraving by Agostino Venez, a prominent Italian printmaker of the Renaissance, created in 1528. This small yet powerful work (185 × 117 mm) depicts the mythical hero Hercules wrestling the ferocious Nemean Lion, first labor from classical Greek lore. Veneziano, active in Rome and Venice, was renowned for his precise reproductive engravings that captured the grandeur of High Renaissance masters like Raphael and Michelangelo, making heroic narratives accessible beyond elite patrons. The medium of engraving—incisions made into a copper plate with a bu...
About the Artist
Agostino Veneziano
Agostino Veneziano, born Agostino de' Musi around 1490 in Venice, received his initial artistic training there, though his primary teacher remains unknown. He began as a pupil of Giulio Campagnola, copying prints by Albrecht Dürer and Campagnola himself from about 1512–14, before producing original works in a similar vein. By around 1515, after brief stints in Florence, he settled in Rome and join...