Hercules kills Achilles in the form of a bull

Engraving, 1630 circa, signed on plate, lower left in the image: F floris inventor N excudit Numbered 6.

In lower margin: Mutilat indefessum Acheloum divite cornu caussa trucis pugnae Deianira fuit.

Hercules Struggling with Achelous, in the Form of a Bull; Hercules kneels on the neck of the animal and tugs on its horn; in the background, to left, two figures seated by a builduing, holding a cornucopia; after Floris.


From the series "The labors of Hercules", after paintings by Frans Floris, made in 1554 and then went lost.

Copy from a series of ten plates (New Hollstein 172-181). After a lost series of paintings by Floris painted in 1554-55 for the Antwerp merchant and art collector Nicolaas Jongelinck.

Magnificent proof, rich tone, printed on contemporary laid paper, with narrow margins, in good condition.

The work is a faithful replica of the engraving by Cornelis Cort built in 1563 and is edited by the engraver Nicolaes Lauwers around 1630. Magnificent example.