Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion

A facsimile of a drawing then in the collection of Richard Cosway; reproduced in reverse. The drawing, which passed later into the Phillipps-Fenwick collection, is now housed in the British Museum, London (inv. no.1946,0713.353). The present facsimile was published in C.M. Metz, 'Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings', London (first edition published in 1789, the second in 1798).

The drawing resembles closely, in reverse, a chiaroscuro woodcut by Nicoló Vicentino, two impressions of which can be found at RCINs 851846 (1st state) and 851847 (2nd state). The authorship of the design is disputed, 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.

The drawing, which has been often described as the original by Giulio Romano on which Vicentino's chiaroscuro was based, is now generally thought to be a copy after the print. Ruland (1876) catalogued another drawing of this subject as being then in the Royal Collection at Stockholm. For a photograph of the drawing, see RCIN 851850.