Hercules and Cacus

Now in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, this 1613 canvas depicts the mythological combat between Hercules and Cacus, the fire-breathing giant whom the hero killed after Cacus had stolen his cattle. The episode from Virgil's Aeneid and Livy's histories offered painters a dramatic pretext for a figure combat in which Hercules's physical supremacy — a central motif in Mannerist hero imagery — could be displayed to maximum effect. Goltzius had explored Herculean subjects throughout his printmaking career, producing virtuosic engravings of the Labors of Hercules in the 1590s, and his painted versions carry the authority of deep engagement with the hero's mythology. The Mauritshuis canvas demonstrates Goltzius's ability to organize violent physical action in paint as confidently as he had in line.

Canvas supports the dynamic two-figure combat composition, which requires mastery of interacting foreshortened forms under physical stress. Goltzius models Hercules's musculature with the anatomical authority derived from his engraving studies of classical sculpture, while Cacus's defeated form provides a foil in contrasting posture. Dark atmospheric background intensifies the heroic foreground action.