The lion skin around Hercules’ shoulder and waist is a tour de force, drawn with long, seemingly formless pen strokes that abstract and utterly enervate the once fierce beast. By contrast, the hero’s facial features are described with short, tight strokes, producing a superb character study of roughened, hard-bitten, stubborn manliness.
Such handling explains why Guercino is among the most celebrated draftsmen of the seventeenth century. He drew frequently, instinctively, and compulsively, using his quill pen to visualize, to think, to problem solve, to invent. He kept his drawings largely to himself in his lifetime, producing thousands for his own artistic purposes and enjoyment. Only after his death were they to become the prized works of collectors.
