Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio Italian
After Rosso Fiorentino Italian
Not on view
This engraving is one of a series of the six feats of Hercules commissioned from Rosso and Caraglio by Baviero de' Carocci, who had been Raphael's printing assistant. When the river god Achelous fought with Hercules for the hand of Deianeira, daughter of a king of Calydon, he took refuge in his ability to change form and turned himself into a bull, whereupon Hercules wrestled him to the ground and ripped off one of his horns. Ovid's account of the story (Metamorphoses 9.1–88) concludes with the naiads filling the horn with fruit and flowers to create the first cornucopia, as shown here.
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