François Lemoyne

Using only black and white chalk to convey flesh tones, Lemoyne convincingly depicted the hero Hercules in full swing—much like a baseball player at bat. One of two known studies for the figure in Lemoyne’s painting Hercules Clubbing Cacus, this sheet powerfully conveys the artist’s graphic skill. The painting illustrates Hercules’s tenth labor, in which the hero endeavors to bring the monster Geryon’s cattle back to Rome. Upon discovering that the giant Cacus has