The Great Hercules
1589. Burin on laid paper.Not on display
Wearing the hide of the lion of Nemea, Hercules holds a club in his left hand and, in his right, the horn he tore off river god Achelous’s head when the latter adopted the form of a bull to fight him. That battle is visible in the middle ground to the left, while, in the background, the Nereids have filled the horn with flowers and fruit, transforming it into a cornucopia. At the right, Hercules lifts Anteus off the ground to strip him of the strength he drew from his contact with his mother, the Earth. Technically, this work is a marvel of the art of engraving. The figure of Hercules is pure artifice: all of his muscles are tensed at the same time, which is impossible, and he is exaggeratedly bulbous. This print has been interpreted politically as an allegory of the Netherlands’ revolt against the Spanish but it could also be viewed as a demonstration of Goltzius’s technique and inventiveness, reflecting his aspiration to attain international fame and fortune. In fact, he took copies of this print with him when traveling to Germany and Italy in 1590-91. This print from the Museo del Prado was part of an album belonging to the VII Marquis of El Carpio, don Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629-1687), and is mentioned in the inventory that his secretary, Juan Vélez de León, carried out in Madrid in 1687: N 12. Un altro [album] dell`istessagrandezza con copertacremese con figure intagliate da Enrico Golzio. The album’s original red-leather binding with gold adornments is also at the Museo del Prado and bears the title Opere del Golzio e del Bloemart on its spine. The frontispiece has the album’s title as well as the observation that the works were assembled by painter Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634-1721): OPERE / DI / ARRIGO GOLZIO / ET / ABRAMO BLOEMART / RACCOLTE / PER IL SUO STUDIO / DA / GIUSEPPE GHEZZ.. Ghezzi played a decisive role in shaping the Marquis of El Carpio’s collections.