Henry Fuseli
Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825
Hercules Killing the Mares of Diomedes
INV-8446
Henry Fuseli
Swiss, active in England, 1741-18251800/05
Hercules Killing the Mares of Diomedes
Henry Fuseli Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825 →pen and ink drawingsdrawings (visual works)
Date
1800/05
Medium
Pen and black ink, with brush and black wash, over graphite, on cream laid paper, laid down on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
50.4 × 38.6 cm (19 7/8 × 15 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
In classical Greek mythology, Hercules is assigned twelve superhuman labors to complete. The eighth of these is to capture the man-eating horses of Diomedes, king of Thrace. In most accounts, Hercules subdues and steals the mares, killing Diomedes and feeding him to his own horses. Fuseli has chosen the less familiar narrative, in which Hercules kills the mares as well. The defeated Diomedes can be seen collapsing on the left. The hero’s young companion, Abderus, killed by the mares, lies on the right.
Hercules’s hypermuscularity is rendered with bold and rapid strokes of the pen assisted by sparely applied, volume-defining gray wash.
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