Hercules and Cacus

Goltzius had told this story once before. In 1588 he made it as a woodcut printed from three blocks, in black, yellow and olive green, the largest of the colour woodcuts from his workshop, and there he chose the moment just before the blow, with Hercules raising his club over the giant Cacus. In the Roman legend Cacus, a fire-breathing son of Vulcan, had stolen cattle from Hercules and dragged them backwards into his cave so the tracks would point the wrong way. In this canvas, dated 1613, the fight is over. Hercules stands above the dead giant with his lion skin and club. The commission came from Johan Colterman, a Haarlem lawyer, and the Mauritshuis, which owns the painting, thinks Colterman's 22-year-old son probably posed for the hero. That would explain the body, which the Frans Hals Museum describes as that of a mere mortal rather than a superman.