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| Hercules besieged by Pygmies. | ||||
| Copperengraving, 1562 | ||||
| Inscribed in the plate “franciscus floris/inventor” and the address of H. Cock. Latin text in the lower margin. 32.8 x 46.9 cm. Bierens de Haan 182, Hollstein 182, New Hollstein Dutch 182. 2(II) |
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| This engraving has an unusual subject. The source for the sleeping Hercules besieged by an army of Pygmies are the Icones or Imagines by Philostratus, a series of descriptions of paintings with subjects in the Antiquity. These descriptions were reinvented in the Renaissance. After his victory over Antaeus Hercules lays himself down in Libya. Somnus, Sleep, induces such a deep sleep in him, that he fails to notice a vast army of Pygmies which tries to wrest his club from him. Hercules nevertheless wakes up and makes short shrift of the Pygmies. He puts them into his lionskin. Cort did not sign the print, but there is no doubt about his authorship. In the second state the date 1562 is changed into 1563. Litterature; Manfred Sellink in Catalogue Cornelis Cort, Museum Boymans van Beuningen 1994, no. 22. (also in English) |
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