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Image

A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.
A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.
A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.
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  • A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.
  • A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.
  • A bearded and nude Hercules lays across the bottom of the drawing on his funeral pyre. The top half depicts his entering Olympus via chariot, welcomed by the gods.

Abraham Jansz. van Diepenbeeck

Study for the Death of Hercules

Description

Maker

Abraham Jansz. van Diepenbeeck (Flemish, 1596-1675)

Title

Study for the Death of Hercules

Year

1630s

Medium

  • black chalk,
  • brush and ink,
  • and white lead heightening on laid paper,
  • incised for transfer

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • black chalk,
  • brush and ink,
  • and white lead heightening on laid paper,
  • incised for transfer

Materials

chalk, white heightening

Supports

  • laid paper

Dimensions

24.1 x 18.1 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

On Verso

Lugt 2631 - Collection of Willem Issack Hooft (1782-1863), Amsterdam.

Lugt 2053d - RISD Museum Collection Stamp

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

20.433

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Old Master Drawings from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Alt Author: Johnson, Deborah J.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

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

Label copy

Tricked into wearing a poisoned robe, the Greek hero Hercules throws himself onto a pyre to end his torment. After his grisly death, depicted in the lower half of the sheet, he ascends to Mount Olympus to join the other gods, as seen at the top of the drawing. The indentations around the figures indicate that they were traced with a stylus to transfer the composition to a copper plate. This carefully finished preparatory design was commissioned to illustrate a publication that interpreted this pagan myth as a prefiguring of Christian salvation.

From Dürer to Van Gogh
Gifts from Eliza Greene Radeke and Helen Metcalf Danforth
Jun 05, 2008 – Oct 26, 2008

Label copy

Divided into two sections, this drawing features the ancient Greek hero Hercules laid on a funeral pyre below a representation of his apotheosis on Olympus. The Death of Hercules was the preparatory drawing for an engraving made to illustrate Michel de Marolles’s Tableaux du Temple des Muses (Pictures of the Temple of Muses), Paris, 1655. The drawing is incised for transfer to the copperplate. Van Diepenbeeck provides linear definition, especially on the body of Hercules, to give the engraver vital information while at the same time creating a painterly atmosphere and range of tones.

Old Master Drawings
Sep 02, 1983 – Oct 16, 1983
Prints and Drawings with a Classical Reference
Dec 15, 1965 – Jan 09, 1966

Use & Feedback

Image use

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

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

Tombstone

Abraham Jansz. van Diepenbeeck (Flemish, 1596-1675)
Study for the Death of Hercules, 1630s
Black chalk, brush and ink, and white lead heightening on laid paper, incised for transfer
24.1 x 18.1 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 20.433

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

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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