Hercules Slaying the Hydra

c. 1618

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

Associated Names
Guercino

Artist, Bolognese, 1591 - 1666

The image shows two nude figures in dynamic poses, each holding a large club above their head. The figures have detailed facial features and curly hair, and are depicted in motion. The background is plain, emphasizing the figures. The artwork is rendered in sepia tones on textured paper.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink with brown wash

  • Credit Line

    Gift of David Edward Rust

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 27.3 x 19.2 cm (10 3/4 x 7 9/16 in.)
    mount: 39.5 x 30.9 cm (15 9/16 x 12 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2012.88.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Henri Joachim Delacroix (1873-1937), Paris. David Rust; gift to NGA 2012.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1965

  • Art in Italy, 1600-1700. The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1965, no. 104 (repr.)(entry by Frederick Cummings).

1969

  • Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, 1591-1666). Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna. no. 29 (repr.)(Denis Mahon).

1982

  • Bolognese Drawings in North American Collections, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1982, no. 50 (repr.)(Mimi Cazort and Catherine Johnston).

1991

  • Guercino, Master Draftsman: Works from North American Collections. Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991, no. 5 (David M. Stone).

Bibliography

1965

  • Mahon, Denis. "Stock-taking in Seicento Studies." Apollo 82, no. 45 (November 1965): 385 (fig. 9), 386, 391 note 30.

  • Hibbard, Howard, and Milton Lewine. "Seicento at Detroit." The Burlington Magazine 107, no. 748 (July 1965): 371, no 104.

2012

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. "Guercino, Hercules Slaying the Hydra." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 47 (Fall 2012): 17-18, color repro.

Inscriptions

by seventeenth-century hand, lower left corner, pen and brown ink, Guerchin; by later hand, verso upper right, graphite: 40 [underlined]; center left, 4186/ I

Markings

collector stamps: black circle with letters or figure inside [illegible]; Henri Joachim Delacroix, Paris 1873-1937 (L. 3604)

Wikidata ID

Q64572431

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