Hercules killing Cacus

The killing of Cacus is not one of the Twelve Labors of Hercules, but is related to his tenth task, the theft of the cattle of Geryon. Having taken the cattle, Hercules drove the herd all the way from Spain to Greece. Crossing Italy, he reached the Aventine Hill, where the giant Cacus lived in a cave. The local population - before the founding of Rome - lived in fear of the fire-spouting giant, who ate human flesh and robbed the farmers of their livestock. One of the stolen cows in the giant's cave bellowed in response to the herd passing by. Hercules entered the cave, found Cacus and killed him with his club.
Hercules killing Cacus is the largest and most ambitious of the chiaroscuro woodcuts by Hendrick Goltzius. The subject provided ample opportunity to depict the bulging muscles of naked bodies in combat, so characteristic of the mannerist aesthetic. The composition of the central group with the two fighting figures is clearly borrowed from an engraving by Jacopo Caraglio after Rosso Fiorentino of Hercules fighting Cerberus. He did however take great care to also illustrate further details of the narrative: the violent encounter takes place in a cave scattered with human remains, and in the background we see the stolen cows. The ominous atmosphere of the cave is heightened by the iron chain at centre left and the bats flying about at upper right. In the present, very rare, early impression, another element of the myth becomes apparent, which is lost in most other examples. It is printed from three blocks in a combination of two shades of reddish-brown and pale beige or mushroom, a colour variant not described by Strauss, Bialler or in New Hollstein. Most of the more common, later impressions were printed in brown and ochre or green and yellow. It is however the reddish palette of the present impression which reflects the fact that Cacus breathes fire, thus illuminating the hellish scene with his flames.