A fearsome lion devastated the region of nemea and frightened its inhabitants, preventing the normal development of their lands. The twelve labors of hercules by the marquis of villena, together with the secret philosophy by juan pérez de moya (1585) and the theater of the gods of gentiles by baltasar de victoria (1620-1624), were surely the reference texts for the conception of the series on the labors of hercules destined for the hall of realms. Villena set this scene in a rugged and rocky area that had become a refuge for the lion, and this is illustrated in the print that accompanies his narration. Zurbarán gave his landscape that same aspect, something that, however, does not appear in the other recorded sources that are usually proposed as the painter's main compositional references. We are talking about the series made on the same theme by cornelis cort (1533-1578), based on drawings by frans floris, and hans sebald beham, the latter in the 1640s. For this episode, the man from extremadura followed cort's image in regards to the disposition of the hero, and beham in the conception and situation of the lion, standing at the moment when hercules lunges towards him and suffocates him with his arms after stunning him with the club, which appears in zurbarán's painting in the foreground, on the ground. Villena refers to this moment and highlights the ferocity of the animal. In this painting, the head of the animal is the element that crowns the pyramidal composition drawn by the two intertwined figures, since that of hercules is partially hidden by the right forearm. The drama of the scene is also underlined by the choice of evening light that bathes hercules' body, highlighting his strong muscles and the effort of the moment, a resource that will be repeated throughout the ensemble to highlight the hero, with whom philip iv felt related as the legitimate successor of the habsburgs and holder of the spanish throne. As in other stories in which hercules defeats a monster or fabulous animal after a difficult fight, the triumph over the nemean lion symbolizes both the courage of the hero, and with him, that of the king and the monarchy, as well as the triumph of virtue over evil and discord. Regarding this specific episode, the marquis of villena sees in the nemean lion a representation of pride and vice, an animal that hercules, by stripping its skin, subdues to return virtue and peace to the states. After killing the lion, hercules skinned it to turn the skin into his clothing, becoming one of his characteristic attributes, which was also considered an element of protection (text extracted from ruiz, l. In: el palacio del rey planeta. Felipe iv y el buen retiro, museo nacional del prado, 2005, p. 148). Object Type: painting. Genre: mythological painting. Date: 1634. Place of creation: Spain. Dimensions: 151 × 166 cm (59.4 × 65.3 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Museo del Prado. Hércules lucha con el león de Nemea, por Zurbarán
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