Art, literature & history
The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra
1545
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Medium
- engraving
- Collection no.
- 1950.464
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Sebald Beham. The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra. The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
About this artwork
The Labors of Hercules: Hercules Killing the Lernean Hydra — Sebald Beham. 1545.
Medium: engraving. Dimensions: .
Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Hercules and his nephew Iolaus work together to defeat the multiheaded hydra of Lerna. To stop the hydra from regrowing its heads, Iolaus torches each neck as Hercules removes the head with his club. Meanwhile, a lobster aids the hydra by attacking Hercules’s heel. According to legend, Hercules dipped his arrowheads in the dead hydra’s blood to make them poisonous.
Beham was one of several German printmakers referred to today as the “Little Masters.” They established their artistic prowess by engraving remarkably small prints, appealing to collectors fascinated with miniature objects and curiosities.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.