Cleveland Museum of Art
The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Carrying the Columns of Gades
Hans Sebald BehamLinkedCulture matchlcp-5eb48064f74e
- Date
- 1545
- Medium
- engraving
- Culture
- Germany
- Department
- Prints
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 127822
What the image shows
Hercules carries a large cannon through a courtyard.
Generated by LinkedCulture from the photograph alone, without the museum’s catalogue text (Qwen/Qwen2.5-VL-7B-Instruct), and not yet reviewed by a person. It describes the picture, not the object’s history, and it is not part of the museum’s record.
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
According to myth, the Pillars of Hercules are the mountains flanking the Strait of Gibraltar. Here, Beham refers to another interpretation of the pillars as classical columns set up by Hercules in Gades—now the Spanish port of Cádiz—as a gateway to undiscovered realms. Two of Christopher Columbus’s expeditions to the Americas launched from Cádiz. Beham was one of several German printmakers referred to today as the “Little Masters.” They established their artistic prowess by engraving remarkably small prints, appealing to collectors fascinated with miniature objects and curiosities.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection
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