Hercules forcing apart the jaws of the Nemean lion
XVI century. Pencil, Grey-brown ink, Pencil ground on paper.Not on display
The Suidas mention this drawing as perhaps the composition of one of the chiaroscuro frescoes of the Labors of Hercules, now lost, formerly on the façade, but possibly in the interior, of the palace of Sinibaldo Doria, close to S. Matteo, Genoa. According to these frescoes were painted early in Cambiaso´s career. In discussing a group of drawings attributed to Cambiaso with themes from The Labors of Hercules, of which this is one, the Suidas were at pains to say that one could be considered as directly preparatory to the Doria palace frescoes.
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracc: a century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Virginia, Art Services International, 2008, p.262
