Hercules (Greek: Heracles), the best-known hero of classical antiquity, is one of the most enduring and popular mythical figures anywhere in the world. His name is universally known, and the phrase “a Herculean task” is an everyday expression for anything requiring extraordinary strength and effort.
The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections, SKD) are now dedicating an exhibition to this demigod in the Winckelmann Forum of the Semper Gallery. Under the title “Hercules – Hero and Anti-Hero,” the Skulpturensammlung bis 1800 (Sculpture Collection up to 1800) and the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) are presenting a wide range of depictions of this character from classical mythology.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), The Drunken Hercules being Led by a Satyr Couple (detail), ca. 1615-16
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Featuring 135 objects, among them top-quality sculptures, paintings (including works by Rubens), prints (by Goltzius among others), coins, armor, and works of the goldsmith’s art, the exhibition explores the question of why Hercules has been such a fascinating figure for millennia and continues to be so today – one need only think, for example, of some of the major films of recent years.
As the son of the supreme deity Zeus and the Theban queen Alcmene, he was a demigod – with superhuman strength and human flaws. His popularity was revived during the Renaissance. In Rome, dozens of large-scale Hercules statues were already known in the sixteenth century, and these had a huge influence on early modern art.
The exhibition showcases works of art from classical antiquity to Neoclassicism, with some glimpses into the present day. Alongside objects from the rich holdings of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, there are prestigious loans from such eminent institutions as the Vatican Museums in Rome, the Prado in Madrid, the Louvre in Paris, and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.
In a prologue and five chapters, the exhibition explores the famous “Labors of Hercules,” his relationships with women, his anti-heroic escapades, and his role as a model of virtue for rulers such as Alexander the Great and August the Strong. Balthasar Permoser’s colossal “Saxon Hercules,” created for the Rampart Pavilion of the Dresden Zwinger, bears witness to this.
Hercules was evidently not only strong and virtuous. In some situations, he behaved dishonorably, succumbed to vice, or committed cruel injustices, even against his own children. He often fought against evil for the good of humanity, but he was also a murderer, rapist, drunkard, and thief. Through significant works of art and an extensive accompanying program, the exhibition encourages reflection on the role of heroism in history and its relevance in our society today. Particular attention is paid to the extraordinary narrative richness of the myth.