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拍品专文
In his Netherlandish diary of 1520-21, Dürer himself referred to this print simply as 'Hercules', yet the meaning of the scene remained the subject of debate. Having borne various titles such as 'The Effects of Jealousy' and 'The Great Satyr', Erwin Panofsky most convincingly identified the subject of this engraving as Hercules at the Crossroads. As related by Prodikos and Xenophon, the young Hercules had to choose between a life of Virtue or one of Vice. In Dürer's depiction, the hero's position however is ambiguous: it is uncertain whether he fights on the side of Virtue, personified by the standing woman wielding a club, or is defending the sinful couple of the woman and the satyr. The significance of the putto with a songbird fleeing to the right or Hercules’s buffoonish headdress of horns and a cockerel are equally unclear.
The print is closely related to a drawing Dürer made a few years before, probably as early as 1494, during his first sojourn in Italy. The pen and ink drawing, which is today in Hamburg (Kupferstichkabinett, inv. no. 23006), depicts the death of Orpheus: the ancient Greek musician Orpheus, having lost his beloved Eurydice, renounces all love for women and advocates instead the love of boys, placing his musical skills in the exclusive service of Apollo. In revenge, Dionysus sent the Maenads to tear him apart.
An earlier, anonymous engraving of the same scene and in the same direction, including the putto but with a lute instead of the lyre in the foreground and an altogether different landscape in the background, is also in the Kupferstichkabinett in Hamburg (inv. no. 22). The engraving was probably printed in Ferrara during the last third of the 15th century, and both the engraving and Dürer’s drawing are believed to be based on a lost design by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506).
The print is closely related to a drawing Dürer made a few years before, probably as early as 1494, during his first sojourn in Italy. The pen and ink drawing, which is today in Hamburg (Kupferstichkabinett, inv. no. 23006), depicts the death of Orpheus: the ancient Greek musician Orpheus, having lost his beloved Eurydice, renounces all love for women and advocates instead the love of boys, placing his musical skills in the exclusive service of Apollo. In revenge, Dionysus sent the Maenads to tear him apart.
An earlier, anonymous engraving of the same scene and in the same direction, including the putto but with a lute instead of the lyre in the foreground and an altogether different landscape in the background, is also in the Kupferstichkabinett in Hamburg (inv. no. 22). The engraving was probably printed in Ferrara during the last third of the 15th century, and both the engraving and Dürer’s drawing are believed to be based on a lost design by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506).