Hercules Fighting the Centaurs, From the Labors of Hercules

The legendary strongman Hercules was born to the god Zeus and a mortal named Alcmena. This union so incensed Zeus’s wife Hera that she made life almost unbearable for the hero. Her ire resulted in him undertaking a series of tasks, known as the Twelve Labors of Hercules. Sebald Beham challenged his audience’s knowledge of the classical text, engraving three actual labors and nine scenes of Hercules’ exploits before and after his labors. While on his mission to seize the Erymanthian boar, Hercules angered some centaurs by drinking their wine. Art historian Andrew Stevens, whose writings helped explain these prints, wondered whether this print could symbolize the battle between humankind’s rational and animal natures.