Hercules and the Cretan Bull

In 1634 Zurbarán, a painter known mostly for quiet monks and saints in white habits, was called to Madrid for a very different job. Philip IV was fitting out a grand hall in his new Buen Retiro palace, and Spain's kings liked to trace their line back to Hercules. Zurbarán was asked for ten of the hero's labours. Here Hercules wrestles the Cretan Bull, a beast that had been ravaging the island of Crete, gripping it by one horn against a dark wood with a strip of river behind. The muscular nude was not really his world, and it shows in the careful, almost still handling. The whole cycle was flattery in paint, each monster Hercules kills standing for an enemy the Spanish crown claimed to have beaten.