The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra (1545): Art, History and Details

The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra (1545) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500–1550).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Hercules and his nephew Iolaus work together to defeat the multiheaded hydra of Lerna. To stop the hydra from regrowing its heads, Iolaus torches each neck as Hercules removes the head with his club. Meanwhile, a lobster aids the hydra by attacking Hercules’s heel. According to legend, Hercules dipped his arrowheads in the dead hydra’s blood to make them poisonous. Beham was one of several German printmakers referred to today as the “Little Masters.” They established their artistic prowess by engraving remarkably small prints, appealing to collectors fascinated with miniature objects and curiosities.

Object facts

• Title: The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra
• Date: 1545
• Creator attribution: Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500–1550)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1950.464

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.