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View at the museum ↗Study of Hercules Resting, with Separate Studies of His Head and Foot (recto); Rectangular grid design (verso)
Annibale Carracci1595/97
- Attribution
- Annibale Carracci Italian, 1560–1609
- Medium
- Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on blue laid paper
- Physical dimensions
- 25.9 × 39.5 cm (10 1/4 × 15 9/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
This is a highly finished study for a fresco mural of the same subject in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. Hercules, the hero of Greek myth, is identified by his club, a lion’s hide, and the apple in his right hand. Though lifelike, the figure was not drawn from a live model but rather from statues available to the artist in Rome, especially an ancient Roman sculpture of a reclining river god. The blue paper creates a mid tone between the black and white chalks, granting Hercules a greater degree of volume and naturalism and dramatically enhancing Annibale Carracci’s fluid, masterful line.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0