This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Mythology & Putti

Mythology & Putti

CHARLES NICOLAS COCHIN (1688-1754)

Hercules as the Deity of Eloquence

c.1725-1730

Chiaroscuro woodcut, printed from two blocks, on etched lines | 28.1 x 25.4 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 851701

A facsimile of a drawing now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA1846.212); reproduced in reverse. The drawing, formerly attributed to Raphael, is now ascribed to his school. Lettered with title and production details. Published in ‘Recueil Crozat’, Paris 1729, plate 38. Other chiaroscuro woodcut impressions at RCINs 851700, 851702; a monochrome impression at RCIN 851703.
  • Creator(s)

    Charles Nicolas Cochin (1688-1754) (etcher)

    Vincent Lesueur (1668-1743) (wood cutter)

    After a work by the school of Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)

  • 28.1 x 25.4 cm (sheet of paper)

  • HERCULE GAULOIS, ou L'ELOQUENCE.

  • Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)

  • Subject(s)
    • Language, Linguistics and Literature
      • Literature
        • Fiction
          • Tales & legends
            • Myths
    • Religion & Theology
      • Religions and faiths
        • Religions of antiquity
          • Classical mythology
            • Hercules