In classical narratives, the death of geryon, a tyrannical king settled in spain, would be one of the last tasks of hercules, carried out once the famous columns of calpe and abyla had been established. The fertility of the spanish lands and the abundance of livestock attracted hercules, who had to end geryon's life to take possession of those riches. Although without ignoring the interests of hercules in his story, baltasar of vitoria justifies the death of gerión for being a usurper. Putting an end to the life of this king would respond to a divine mission, an opinion of saint thomas that vitoria himself picks up regarding the death of busiris in egypt, also at the hands of hercules: he who kills a tyrant does a great service to god. Faithful to the general conception of the hall of kingdoms series, zurbarán has illustrated the moment in which the hero kills gerión and, therefore, fulfills the assigned task. However, the painter offers interesting variations to the general scheme; on the one hand, it shows hercules from behind, following an anatomical model indebted to a print by dürer in which the son of jupiter is also represented, although adapting that image to the character he had conceived for the entire ensemble, a man not at all idealized, as demonstrated by the folds he draws on his mature waist. Also striking is the position of gerión, fallen to the ground after receiving the attack. We do not know what source the artist used to capture this daring foreshortening which, as has been suggested on occasion for the nudes in this series, could also have been based on studies from life. Also interesting is the representation of the landscape that surrounds the scene, in this case and in contrast to the naturalism of the figures, with classicist roots. In a clearing of this leafy environment, what appears to be ruined architecture has been included. For serrera it would be a reference to the hercules lighthouse that pérez de moya speaks of: [hercules] built a superb tower that had eyes to see those who came to that port [. . ], with whose clarity the ships could travel at night (text extracted from ruiz, l. In: el palacio del rey planeta. Felipe iv y el buen retiro, museo nacional del prado, 2005, p. 160). Object Type: painting. Genre: mythological painting. Date: 1634. Dimensions: height: 136 cm (53.5 in); width: 167 cm (65.7 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Museo del Prado. Hércules vence al rey Gerión, por Zurbarán
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