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Mythology & Putti

Mythology & Putti

GIUSEPPE NICCOLÒ VICENTINO (ACTIVE C. 1530-50)

Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion

c.1525-30

Chiaroscuro woodcut, from two blocks, in olive green | 25.1 x 19.7 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 851846

A chiaroscuro woodcut after a design traditionally attributed to Raphael. First state. Signed on plate at lower left, and crediting Raphael with the invention of the composition. A second state impression at RCIN 851847. The authorship of the design is a matter of dispute, with some scholars supporting the traditional attribution to Raphael (Oberhuber/Gnann 1999, p.112), and others suggesting that the composition may derive from a drawing by Giulio Romano related to the fresco of the same subject in the Sala dei Cavalli in the Palazzo Te, Mantua, part of a cycle illustrating the ‘Labours of Hercules’ (Raphael Invenit 1985, p.249, VII.6). A drawing formerly in the Cosway and Phillips-Fenwick Collection and now in the British Museum, London (inv. no.1946,0713.353*) has often been described as the original by Giulio Romano on which Vicentino's chiaroscuro was based; it is now generally thought to be a copy after the chiaroscuro. The drawing was engraved in facsimile by Metz when in the Cosway Collection; see RCIN 851851.
  • Creator(s)

    Giuseppe Niccolò Vicentino (active c. 1530-50) (wood cutter)

    After Giulio Romano (Rome c. 1499-Mantua 1546) (designer)

  • 25.1 x 19.7 cm (sheet of paper)

  • 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
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    p.249, no.VII.6 (Raphael Invenit 1985 : Bernini Pezzini, G. et al., 1985. Raphael Invenit. Stampe di Raffaello nelle Collezioni dell'Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome)