The infant Hercules strangling snakes

Famed for his strength from birth, Hercules, the illegitimate son of Zeus and Alcmene, successfully overcame two snakes sent by Zeus' jealous wife Hera while playing in his cradle. The present painting is a good studio replica of a small composition on copper by Otto van Veen, which was recently acquired for the Rubenshuis, Antwerp. Several further variants, all on different scale and either with or without the inscription on the cradle, are known (see, for example, Van Ham, Cologne, 21 October 2009, lot 1088; and SGL Enchères, Saint-Germain-en-laye, 11 November 2018, lot 10). A similar composition with differences has at times been associated with van Veen's most prominent pupil, Sir Peter Paul Rubens (see M. Van der Meulen, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard: XXIII: Copies after the Antique, I, Text ill. 26.).

The figure of the young Hercules probably derives from a Roman marble in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. This work evidently enjoyed a degree of popularity among artists working in the Lowlands in the early decades of the seventeenth century, as a sculpted copy of it also appears in the background of Thomas de Keyser's Portrait of David Bailly (see. A. Jensen Adams, 'Thomas de Keyser's Portrait of David Bailly: the Artist as 'honnête homme' or 'compleat gentleman' in the Early Seventeenth Century', in Face Book. Studies on Dutch and Flemish Portraiture of the 16th-18th Centuries. Liber Amicorum presented to Rudolf E.O. Ekkart on the occasion of his 65th Birthday, Leiden, 2012, pp. 151-160, fig. 5).

We are grateful to Dr. Bert Schepers of the Rubenianum for his assistance cataloguing the present lot and for bringing to our attention the other versions.


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This lot is offered without reserve.