Lots 300 to 304 AN IMPORTANT PART SET OF FIVE BRUSSELS TAPESTRIES FROM 'THE LABOURS OF HERCULES' ...

Lots 300 to 304
AN IMPORTANT PART SET OF FIVE BRUSSELS TAPESTRIES FROM 'THE LABOURS OF HERCULES' SERIES

A Brussels mythological tapestry,
The Labours of Hercules (1): Hercules and Antaeus,
probably mid-16th century, in the manner of Bernard van, Orley, the eleventh labour of Hercules, showing him lifting Antaeus and squeezing the life out of him, watched by Iolaus, the background with subsidiary scenes including Hercules, Cacus and the Stymphalian birds, within en suite borders,
11ft, high x 12ft wide (335 x 366cm)

Provenance: By repute, the Pallavicino Family, by descent to Marchese Serra, Palazzo Verde, Genoa;
from whom purchased by J Pierpont Morgan;
then gifted to Walter Hayes Burns;
Christie's North Mymms Park, September, 1979, lot 502.

The Eleventh Labour of Hercules was the Fetching of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. These had been given to Hera by Ge and entrusted to the keeping of the Hesperides and the dragon Ladon in the country of the Hyperboreans. In, his quest, Hercules encountered Antaeus, a Libyan giant, whose strength derived from contact with his mother Ge, goddess of the earth. When strangers came to his kingdom, he would wrestle with them, and if thrown, would gather renewed strength, from contact with the ground. Realising this, Hercules lifted Antaeus off the ground and squeezed the life out of his body in a tight hug.