| The Death of Hercules | |
|---|---|
| Spanish:La muerte de Hércules, alternatively:Hercules Seared by the Poisoned Robe | |
 The Death of Hercules (1634) by Francisco de Zurbarán | |
| Artist | Francisco de Zurbarán |
| Completion date | 1634 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 136 cm × 167.0 cm (53.5 in × 65.75 in) |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
| Accession | P001250[1] |
The Death of Hercules (Spanish:La muerte de Hércules, alternatively known asHercules Seared by the Poisoned Robe)[2] is a 1634 painting byFrancisco de Zurbarán, now in theMuseo del Prado in Madrid. It belonged to a series of ten paintings on the life ofHercules for theHall of Realms at thePalacio del Buen Retiro.
The painting is anoil on canvas and measures 53.5 by 65.75 inches (135.9 by 167.0 cm). It depicts Hercules burning as he tries to remove the poisonedShirt of Nessus, while the centaurNessus himself dies from Hercules's arrow in the background. The choice of the Herculean theme, as well as Zaburán's decision to depict Hercules as burning without thefuneral pyre normally present in the myth, fitted the royal ideology ofPhilip IV, who claimed to be a descendant of Hercules.
The painting's sources include a 1521 woodcut by the French artistGabriel Salmon and a 1542 engraving of Nessus bySebald Beham; they may also have included the paintings ofCaravaggio andJusepe de Ribera, a statue ofJerome byPietro Torrigiano, and a work byDiego Velázquez, who supervised the decoration of the Retiro and communicated with Zaburán throughout the painting of his Hercules series. Although the series has often been criticised by art critics, who note that Zaburán's work normally handled more static figures and rarely involved painting nudes,The Death of Hercules is often cited as among the best pieces in it.
The Death of Hercules was one of a series of ten paintings, mostly depicting aspects of the stories ofHercules believed to have taken place in theIberian Peninsula, commissioned fromFrancisco de Zurbarán for theHall of Realms at thePalacio del Buen Retiro.[3] The initial commission was for twelve paintings, corresponding to the canonical twelveLabours of Hercules: this was eventually reduced to ten, and the decision taken to place each picture over one of the hall's ten windows.[4] Zurbarán, based inSeville, was the only painter from outside Madrid commissioned for the Retiro.[5] The palace's decoration was supervised by the artistDiego Velázquez;[6]The Death of Hercules was eventually placed on the south wall,[7] about 10 feet (3.0 m) above the floor.[8]
The painting is anoil on canvas and measures 53.5 by 65.75 inches (135.9 by 167.0 cm).[7] It depicts Hercules trying to remove the poisonedShirt of Nessus, as flames engulf his body.[9] In the background can be seen the dying figure of the centaurNessus, whom Hercules shot with an arrow poisoned with the blood of theLernaean Hydra.[10] The choice of stories from the life of Hercules reflected the ideological programme of the Spanish monarchy underPhilip IV: Philip was believed to descend from Hercules via both the kings of Castille and theHouse of Burgundy.[11] The imagery of Hercules'simmolation recalled hisapotheosis (ascension into godhood), and therefore implicitly invoked the immortality of the king and the legitimacy of his dynasty.[8] In contrast to the traditional myth, Hercules is not depicted as burning on thefuneral pyre he constructed for himself, though Zaburán follows tradition by placing Hercules's distinctive club at his feet, and by depicting him as a gigantic figure with curled hair.[7]
Zurbarán was initially commissioned to make the painting, as part of a series of twelve, on 12 June 1634; he received a total of 1100ducats for the eventual ten paintings, which included payment for twoworks depicting the defence of Cádiz in 1625.[7]The Death of Hercules is currently held in theMuseo del Prado, Spain's national art museum, in Madrid.[10]
The painting was modelled on a 1521 woodcut by the French artistGabriel Salmon.[12] The figure of Nessus was taken from a 1542 engraving bySebald Beham.[13] Zurbarán modified the composition of Salmon's picture by adding colour, and by turning Hercules's body to emphasise his dying gesture and to create greater contrast between the painting's light and dark areas.[10] Martin S. Soria has written that the "bold three-dimensional thrust of the dying Hercules's right foot" shows inspiration from the work ofCaravaggio and his followers, includingJusepe de Ribera.[14] Soria further suggests that the figure was inspired by a 1525 statue ofJerome byPietro Torrigiano, in Zaburán's home city of Seville, and by a 1634 painting of the jesterJuan de Calabazas by Velázquez: Velázquez was painting the latter work while Zaburán was working on the Hercules series, and communicated with him daily.[15]
The subject-matter of the Hercules series was outside Zurbarán's normal expertise: he was more used to religious imagery with static, clothed figures, rather than the dynamic nude characters called for by the classical theme.[10] Indeed, the Hercules series are his only surviving mythological paintings.[16] The quality of the paintings has often been criticised: Paul Guinard wrote that Zaburán was "not very well suited" for the theme.[7] Jonathan Brown describedThe Death of Hercules as "one of the outstanding episodes" in the Hercules series.[10] Jeannine Baticle similarly calls it the best of the series, though writes that its "dramatic composition ... to some extent obscures the fact ... that the nude figure ... was not Zurbarán's forte".[6] Brown andJohn Huxtable Elliott suggest that the primary appeal of Zaburán as an artist was his ability to make his works highly legible, and that "the rough-hewn, unidealised Hercules type invented by Zurbaran captures in an original way the brute force and inexhaustible power of the ancient hero".[8]
