Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion

A photograph of a drawing catalogued by Ruland (1876) as being then in the Royal Collection at Stockholm. The drawing seems to be a copy after a chiaroscuro woodcut by Nicoló Vicentino, impressions of which are at RCIN 851846 (1st state) and 851847 (2nd state). 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). The decoration of the room was designed by Giulio, and executed by Rinaldo Mantovano and Benedetto Pagni between 1527 and 1528. Another drawing of this subject, currently in the British Museum, London (inv. no. 1946,0713.353*) and often described as the original by Giulio Romano on which the chiaroscuro woodcut by Nicoló Vicentino was based, is now generally thought to be a copy after the print. The British Museum drawing was engraved in facsimile by Metz when in the Cosway Collection; see RCIN 851851.