Hercules at the viso del marqués palace

searching for the labours of hercules2nd Short-term student exchange

This Renaissance palace, located in el Viso del Marqués, province of

Ciudad Real, is the best example of symbiosis between mythology and

painting in Spain.

• Almost 8000 square meters

of fresco paintings in its

roofs and vaults make it a

picture book of mythology.

description

Awards Marquess of Santa Cruz

Order of SantiagoHis original idea was to build himself a home for his retirement.

• Born December 12, 1526 Granada

• Died February 9, 1588 (aged 61)Lisbon, Portugal

• Buried at Viso del Marqués

• Allegiance Spain

• Service/branch Navy

• Years of service 1544–1588

• Rank Captain General of the Sea

General Admiral

• Battles/wars

• Siege of Malta

• Battle of Muros Bay

• Battle of Lepanto

• Battle of Ponta Delgada

• Conquest of the Azores

• Drake's 1587 expedition,

(there was no direct combat)

• It belonged to Álvaro de Bazán y Guzmán

Don Alvaro ´s deeds were celebrated by very important writers of his age.

She was taken by the Naples captain-galley, called La Loba (The She-Wolf), commanded

by that lightning of war, by the father of soldiers, for that fortunate and never defeated

captain, Don Álvaro de Bazán, marquis of Santa Cruz.

In the Chapter XXXIX of Don Quixote, Cervantes says:

• Lope the Vega in this sonnet

makes a comparison between

Neptune, god of seas, and Don

Alvaro de Bazán.

Other important writers celebrated his deeds:

Another poet, Luis de Góngora, says that Don Alvaro was a human Mars

In both sides of the staircase, Al varo de Bazán was represented by

cyclopean statues as Neptune ( god of the sea) and as Mars ( god of war),

following the renaissance tradition of representing men as gods,

demigods or heroes of the grecolatin mythology.

D. Álvaro ´s favourite heroe was Hercules.

Diverse representations of Don Alvaro, in front of the Viso Palace, as

Mars in the staircase, and in Madrid.

First vault of the staircase: the kidnapping of Deyanira and the seven

capital sins: Anger, Covetousness, Lust, Envy, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony.

the kidnapping of Deyanira

Hercules fires an arrow to centaur Nesus, who tries to scape with

Deyanira, Hercules´s wife, after crossing the river. Hercules will pay

later this imprudence with his life. The moral meaning of this fable: We

should be careful about to whom we entrust our precious things.

Which is the moral meaning of this fable?

The vault of the first landing: the labours of Hercules

the labours of Hercules

• The Nemean Lion

c

Cerberus

the Lernaean Hydra

Hercules fighting the Centaurs

Antaeus

These labours mark the triumph of Virtue against

Evil. The four elements are represented by…

Why these labours?

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 115 "He [Herakles] proceeded through Libya, which was

ruled by Poseidon's son Antaios, who forced strangers to wrestle and then killed them.

When Herakles was forced, he clasped Antaios in his arms, lifted him into the air,

weakened him and killed him. For it happened that Antaios was stronger when his feet

were on the ground, which is why some said he was a son of Gea (the Earth)."

Antaeus

Cerberus was the twelfth and final labour that was given to Heracles by King Eurystheus.

Heracles had to capture the three-headed dog without using any weapons.He managed

to go to the Underworld and find Hades to ask for his permission to take Cerberus to the

surface. Hades agreed under the condition that Heracles should not use any weapons.

Heracles eventually managed to overpower Cerberus and brought him to Eurystheus,

successfully completing his twelve labours. Here Hercules is with his club as he would

not trust the animal at all.

Cerberus

The first labour of Heracles was to capture the Nemean

Lion. According to some iconographical aspects from the

Cabala, Christianism identifies the fire element with the

archangel Miguel and Saint Marcus (with the symbolic

animal of fire, the lion).

Nemean Lion

The Hydra, was a serpentine water monster that dwelt the swamp

near lake Lerna. Heracles called on his nephew Iolaus for help.

Heracles cut off each head and Iolaus cauterized the open stumps.

Seeing that Heracles was winning the struggle, Hera sent a large

crab to distract him. He crushed it under his mighty foot. The

Hydra's one immortal head was cut off with a golden sword given to

Heracles by Athena. Heracles placed the head—still alive and

writhing—under a great rock

Hydra

After killing his music tutor Linus with a lyre, Hercules was sent to take care of

cattle on a mountain by Amphitryon. Here, according to an allegorical parable,

"The Choice of Heracles", invented by the sophist Prodicus (ca. 400 BCE), he was

visited by two nymphs - Pleasure and Virtue - who offered him a choice between a

pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious one: he chose the latter.

Psychomachia

Ψυχομαχία

psychomachy

conflict of the soul

It is also one of the most common conventional themes in literature, and is

sometimes considered to be a universal part of the human condition: the inner

struggle in characters (and by extension, humans in reality) between good and

evil. Joseph Conrad defined all humans as having an "inner evil" or Heart of

Darkness in his novel of the same name.

Vice is represented by Venus, with her back to us, slightly dressed, offering an arrow and a

heart or an apple ( love´s symbols). Contrariwise, Minerva, warrior and virtuous goddess,

represents the virtue. According to his sight and the movement of his arm, Hercules

chooses the latter. He is represented as a warrior , in a clear reference to house´owner ,

also virtuous and warrior.

this painting is surrounded by four combat scenes, as examples, to make

visitors understand the difficult struggle of virtuous man to control his

passions and fight dangers.

Not only the staircase but also the hall highlight the owner´s virtue. The steps

would be different levels to get to the upper floor, i.e. Fame and Victory. There is a

parallelism in both branches: in our way to the top, we find two virtuous examples

from Roman history, two personifications-as Hercules, choosing the virtue, and

as Neptune, chosen by the Fortune - and two allegories (Fame and Victory).

Many other Greek gods and heroes and relevant characters in Roman History

appear in the paintings of the palace showing Don Alvaro´s love for mythology,

and the way he used it to glorify himself.

Conclusion

bibliography

• La mitología en los

palacios españoles,

Antonio Ramón

Navarrete Orcera,

2005, UNED

• Hercules, María

Pandiello Fernández,

universidade nova de

Lisboa, Instituto de

Estudios Medievais

Mercedes Casuso Quesada

Department of Greek