Annibale CarracciItalian, 1560–1609Footed Vessel with Handle (verso)
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The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
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.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1997.52.b
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
Meanwhile, in the life of Annibale Carracci
The whole life1578–1595 · Workplace
Bologna
1594
Cardinal Farnese summons the brothers to Rome
In 1594 Cardinal Odoardo Farnese invited Annibale and his brother Agostino to Rome to decorate the Palazzo Farnese with frescoes on mythological subjects.
1595
Moves to Rome for good, into the Palazzo Farnese
Probably in September or October 1595 Carracci moved from Bologna to Rome for good and settled in the Palazzo Farnese.
1595–1609 · Workplace
Rome
1597–1605
Assistants at the Palazzo Farnese: the masters to come
Many of Annibale’s assistants and pupils on the projects at the Palazzo Farnese and the Herrera Chapel became pre-eminent artists of the next decades, among them Domenichino, Francesco Albani, Giovanni Lanfranco, Domenico Viola, Guido Reni and Sisto Badalocchio.
