black chalk, heightened with traces of white chalk, on blue paper
Sotheby's New York. This handsome study of Hercules was a preparatory study for one of Carracci's two oval frescoes in the ceiling of the Camerino in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, dating from 1595-1597. The present drawing shows many differences to the final composition : Hercules reclines to the right rather than the left and looks out at the viewer in a pose reminiscent of a classical sculpture while the figure in the fresco looks downwards in contemplation and is more enclosed by the composition than is suggested here. It went well beyond the US $ 70,000-90,000 estimate.
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