Hercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the sky

Hercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the sky

Cristofano di Michele Martini (Il Robetta)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The son of the God Jupiter and the mortal Alcmene, Hercules (Herakles in Greek) possessed a superhuman strength that allowed him to defeat tyrants and destroy monsters. As the legendary founder of Florence, he appeared on the city seal already in the thirteenth century. In 1460, Pollaiuolo painted three canvases depicting the labors of Hercules for the great hall of the Medici palace in Florence, the first large-scale mythological decorations of the Renaissance. Robetta's engraving seems to record one of these lost works, in which Hercules battles the Hydra with a torch. By cauterizing the Hydra's wounds with fire, the hero was able to prevent two new heads from sprouting each time one was cut off. Robetta also made an engraving after Pollaiulo's 'Hercules and Antaeus', the pendant painting to 'Hercules and the Hydra'.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the skyHercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the skyHercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the skyHercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the skyHercules and the Hydra; wielding a torch he attacks the winged, multi-headed Hydra in rocky landscape, a hawk attacks a heron in the sky

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.