Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion

This is a second state impression of a chiaroscuro by Nicoló Vicentino, retouched by Andrea Andreani, who replaced Vincentino's name with his own monogram at lower left (AA), where is also the attribution of the design to Raphael, to whom the composition has been traditionally ascribed. A first state impression at RCIN 851846.

The authorship of the design is a matter of dispute, with some scholars supporting the traditional attribution to Raphael (Oberhuber/Gnann 1999), 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).

A drawing formerly in the Fenwick and Cosway 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.