ROSSI, Vincenzo de'
(b. 1525, Fiesole, d. 1587, Firenze)

Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar

c. 1568
Marble, over life-size
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

The fourth labour of Hercules was to bring the fearsome Erymanthian Boar back to Eurystheus alive. Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this labour in mid-winter. Heracles caught the boar, bound it, and carried it back to Eurystheus, who was frightened of it and ducked down in his half-buried storage pithos, begging Heracles to get rid of the beast.




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