Hercules and the Hydra: on view at Victoria and Albert Museum

The dense grain of a hardwood allows subtle carving and a high polish. In a relief the image stands out against a background that has been cut away. The depths and angles at which the wood is carved determine the play of light and shadow in the relief. The subject formed part of the Twelve Labours that Hercules undertook as a penance for slaying his own children in a fit of madness. He killed the seven-headed monster by cutting off its heads, with the help of a companion to cauterise the wounds with a torch.

Hercules and the Hydra

Yes, receiving visitors

About the sculpture

Particulars

In the same room · Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum

On the same theme · Hydra

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Echoes of Amphora: Column Vessel I/20, 2020

Gladiators: Hector and Ajax (Combat), 1963

Plaque, 1937

The Lure of the Pan Pipes, 1932

The Lure of the Pan Pipes, 1932

Emmeline Pankhurst, ca. 1929

The Duchesse de Choiseul, 1908

St Elizabeth, 1902

Herkules tötet die Hydra, 1545

Adolphe Thiers vecht tegen de socialistische hydra, 1848-11-15

[Zwei Prospekte, links mit Herkules im Kampf mit der Hydra; Au bas du projet de droite, un petit vase de fleurs dans un ovale], 1638–1706

[Zwei Prospekte, links mit Herkules im Kampf mit der Hydra; Au bas du projet de droite, un petit vase de fleurs dans un ovale], 1638–1706

Hercules and the Hydra, 1552

Hercules and the Hydra, c. 1570/1587

Vrijheid, 1849

Allegorie op de terugkeer van Groot-Brittannië tot het katholieke geloof, 1687