Hercules vanquishing a drakaina

Circle of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Venice 1727 – Madrid 1804)
Hercules vanquishing a drakaina (half?woman, half?serpent) – interpreted either as Echidna or a personified Hydra

c. 1775 – 1790

Pen and dark?brown ink with two tones of grey wash, white reserves on paper

23.5 × 18.5 cm

Provenance
Private collection, France

This oval drawing shows Hercules brandishing his club while crushing beneath his foot a female?featured creature whose body coils into a serpentine tail. The exceptionally rare iconography evokes Echidna, mother of monsters, or a humanised Hydra of Lerna – a baroque poetic licence that heightens the contrast between beauty and monstrosity.

The firm yet subtly broken contour, the sculptural modelling achieved with granular wash, and the foliage rendered in quick, looping strokes link the sheet to Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s Hercules cycle (c. 1775?1790; e.g. Metropolitan Museum, inv. 1975.1.492; Christie’s London, 7 July 2022, lot 89). The absence of the workshop numbering and a slightly denser wash, however, argue for a cautious attribution to his immediate circle, probably a pupil active at the family villa in Zianigo.

Beyond its graphic virtuosity, the work captivates by its iconographic interest: a single female serpent?monster confronting Hercules is virtually unknown in antiquity and rare in the eighteenth century, making the sheet a curiosity for the mythologically minded collector. Its condition – fresh paper, intact wash, no visible restoration – offers a prime opportunity to approach the Tiepolo universe through a cabinet?sized work of striking personality.