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Hercules Resting (recto)
About the Artwork
To atone for the crime of killing his family, the Greek hero Hercules was required to perform twelve labors. In this final study for a fresco of this subject commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese for the ceiling of his study in his family’s Roman palace, Hercules rests, surrounded by evidence of his toil: the head of the Erymanthian boar he captured, the three golden apples of the Hesperides, and the hide of the Nemean lion on which he sits. The hero’s pose and exaggerated musculature are a result of the artist’s intense study of ancient models, and emulate specific antique sculptures depicting river gods in the Farnese collection. Carracci also worked with full knowledge of Michelangelo’s frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-10), and the pose of Hercules may have been inspired by the reclining figure of Adam in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam scene.
Provenance
[Hôtel Drouot, Paris, summer 1997]; [Talabardon, Paris].
Exhibition history
The Drawings of Annibale Carracci. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (September 26, 1999-January 9, 2000). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). From Raphael to the Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (organizer) (May 29-September 6, 2009).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Annibale Carracci (Italian, c. 1560–1609)
- Date
- 1595–97
- Medium
- black chalk heightened with white, squared in black chalk on right, incised (edges of figure)
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 35.5 x 52.4 cm (14 x 20 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 36.6 x 53.3 cm (14 7/16 x 21 in.); Tertiary Support: 38.3 x 55 cm (15 1/16 x 21 5/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1997.52.a
More by Annibale Carracci in museum collections
Drunken Silenus and Decorative Sketches: Studies for the Tazza Farnese (recto); Two Putti Fighting: Study for the Galleria Farnese (verso)
Annibale Carracci1599/1601 · Drawing
Landscape with Man Sleeping beneath Tree (recto); Landscape with a Horseman (verso)
Annibale Carracci1595 · Drawing
Study of Hercules Resting, with Separate Studies of His Head and Foot (recto); Rectangular grid design (verso)
Annibale Carracci1595/97 · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011114
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