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A pen and ink drawing of Hercules and other figures in a physical. Floating in the sky above and behind him are three female allegories: Victory, Honor, and Fame.
A pen and ink drawing of Hercules being saddled with the heavens, represented by clouds, by three nude women. At left, a seated woman looks on, surveying the event.
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  • A pen and ink drawing of Hercules and other figures in a physical. Floating in the sky above and behind him are three female allegories: Victory, Honor, and Fame.
  • A pen and ink drawing of Hercules being saddled with the heavens, represented by clouds, by three nude women. At left, a seated woman looks on, surveying the event.

Carlo Maratti

Double-Sided Sheet with Studies of Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides

Maker

Carlo Maratti (Italian, 1625-1713)

Title

Double-Sided Sheet with Studies of Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides

Year

ca. 1692

Medium

  • Pen and ink and brush and wash over black chalk on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Pen and ink and brush and wash over black chalk on laid paper

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

44.4 x 38.6 cm (17 7/16 x 15 3/16 inches) (recto)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

52.194

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Publications

  • Books

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

This double-sided sheet contains multiple sketches for a composition depicting one of the labors of the Greek hero Hercules. The artist sketched in chalk on one side before blocking out the main elements of the composition with a brush dipped in ink. Turning the sheet over, he then repeated these same elements-Victory holding a crown, Hercules carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders-as he continued to search for postural variants and alternatives. Maratti’s fluid, tangled, impatient lines attest to the vivacity and speed of his process of invention.

Design and Description
Renaissance and Baroque Drawings
Jan 27, 2006 – Apr 09, 2006

Label copy

Maratti depicts an episode from Hercules’s eleventh labor, in which Hercules stole three golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides (the daughters of Night). Hercules enlisted the help of the Titan Atlas, who was charged with keeping the heavens and earth separate for all eternity. Hercules persuaded Atlas to retrieve the apples for him only after agreeing to bear the weight of the heavens temporarily. Maratti shows three women saddling Hercules with the heavens, represented by clouds, while the globe rests at his feet. The firmament on his back provides the platform for three allegorical figures above, Victory, Honor, and Fame, who represent Hercules Victorious. This and a related drawing at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, served as designs for an octagonal ceiling at the Villa Visconti, Rome, now destroyed.

Italian Art in Celebration of Rhode Island’s Italian Festival; Seven Centuries of Italian Art
CRIA Benefit Exhibition
Apr 12, 1967 – May 21, 1967
Italian Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Mar 17, 1961 – Apr 16, 1961
Italian Drawings of the 16th Century--18th Century, Recently Acquired
Oct 22, 1952 – Jan 06, 1953

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Carlo Maratti (Italian, 1625-1713)
Double-Sided Sheet with Studies of Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides, ca. 1692
Pen and ink and brush and wash over black chalk on laid paper
44.4 x 38.6 cm (17 7/16 x 15 3/16 inches) (recto)
Anonymous gift 52.194

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We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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