Hans Sebald Beham, The Labors of Hercules:  Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra
Williams Collection, 1950.464 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
Hans Sebald Beham

The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra

1545

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
engraving
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-215874

Hercules and his nephew Iolaus work together to defeat the multiheaded hydra of Lerna. To stop the hydra from regrowing its heads, Iolaus torches each neck as Hercules removes the head with his club. Meanwhile, a lobster aids the hydra by attacking Hercules’s heel. According to legend, Hercules dipped his arrowheads in the dead hydra’s blood to make them poisonous. Beham was one of several German printmakers referred to today as the “Little Masters.” They established their artistic prowess by engraving remarkably small prints, appealing to collectors fascinated with miniature objects and cur…

Provenance

Williams Collection, 1950.464

Registry history

  • 1545 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — prints

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