Hercules

Hercules shows the hero nude, wearing a lion skin, standing beside a basin and holding a club. His pose, with the left hand resting on the hip and the legs in an asymmetric contrapposto, feels both calm and balanced, a trait typical of Piero della Francesca. The serious, thoughtful face looks straight out at the viewer, while the throat is modeled on classical sculpture and the palmette friezes in the background repeat ancient motifs. The clear light nearly erases shadows without flattening the body's volume. It is the painter's only known secular work and was probably part of a group of mythological figures. Its style links it to the True Cross frescoes in Arezzo, especially the Death of Adam scene, where a boy leans on a club in a similar pose.

Painter

Piero della Francesca

Date

1465

Medium

tempera, plaster

Dimensions

151 × 126 cm

Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Movement

Early Renaissance

Genre

mythological painting

Depicts

Heracles

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