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François Le Moyne

Hercules Raising his Club: Study for “Hercules and Cacus”

1717
Black chalk, with white chalk, on buff laid paper, laid down on laid paper
41 × 24.7 cm (16.1 × 9.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Using only black chalk heightened with white to convey flesh tones, François Lemoyne convincingly depicted the hero Hercules in full swing, fully embodied and activated, and positioned surprisingly like a baseball player at bat. One of two known studies for the figure in Lemoyne’s painting Hercules Clubbing Cacus, this sheet powerfully conveys the artist’s graphic skill. The painting illustrates the 10th labor of Hercules, in which the hero was commanded to bring the monster Geryon’s cattle back to Rome. After discovering that the giant Cacus stole several of the cattle, Hercules clubs him to death.

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