GIULIO ROMANO (GiulioPippi)
CIRCA 1499-154618 Hercules Resting after Killing
the Hydra
Pen and brown ink (recto); black chalk, incised for trans-
fer (verso); H: 25.4 cm (10 in.); W: 20.4 cm (8 in.)
88.GA.I2 8
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left corner, col-
lection mark of Sir Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445); at bot-
tom right corner and right margin, collection mark of
Lord Francis Egerton, first earl of Ellesmere (L. 2yiob).
PROVENANCE: Sir Thomas Lawrence, London; Lord
Francis Egerton, first earl of Ellesmere, London; by de-
scent to the sixth duke of Sutherland (sale, Sotheby's,
London, December 5, 1972, lot 52); art market, New
York; private collection, New York; art market, New
York.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Hartt, Giulio Romano (New Haven,
1958), vol. i, pp. 165, 186; 301 , no. 238.THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THIS DRAWING WAS MADE
remains elusive. It was related by Hartt (1958, p. 301) to
a study, Apollo and Marsyas (Windsor Castle, Royal Li-
brary inv. 0495), that is similar in style and scale. He sug-
gested that they may both have been used as preparatory
studies for stucco reliefs in the garden of the Apparta-
mento di Troia, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Although they
do have a relieflike quality, there is no evidence to sustain
the connection with this project. Alternatively, it is pro-
posed in the Sotheby's sale catalogue (1972) that—given
the stylus marks and black chalk on the verso—the Mu-
seum's drawing may have been intended as a study for a
print. There are engravings based on Giulio's designs of
Hercules and Antaeus and Hercules and the Nemean
Lion,^1 but there is nothing to indicate a more extensive
print series on his labors. Lastly, K. Forster postulated
that this drawing may have been done for a project com-
missioned by Ercole d'Este, for whom Hercules would
have been a most appropriate subject (Giulio visited Fer-
rara in the mid-i53os on several occasions).^2 For stylistic
reasons, the drawing is datable to circa 1535.1. S. Massari, Indsorimantovanidel '500 (Rome, 1980), nos. 50-
5i.- In conversation with G. Goldner, 1988.
56 ITALIAN SCHOOL • GIULIO ROMANO