Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"

Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"

Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This engraving is one of a series of the six feats of Hercules commissioned from Rosso and Caraglio by Baviero de' Carocci, who had been Raphael's printing assistant. When the river god Achelous fought with Hercules for the hand of Deianeira, daughter of a king of Calydon, he took refuge in his ability to change form and turned himself into a bull, whereupon Hercules wrestled him to the ground and ripped off one of his horns. Ovid's account of the story (Metamorphoses 9.1–88) concludes with the naiads filling the horn with fruit and flowers to create the first cornucopia, as shown here.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"Hercules defeating the river god Acheolus in the form of a bull, with three women to his left holding cornucopias, from "Herculean Subjects"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.