Hercules separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla
1634.Room 009A
The Greek hero’s deeds that took place in the Iberian Peninsula, of which this is one, were interpreted as demonstrating his status as mythical forerunner of the Spanish monarchy.
Hercules is shown making a great effort at the center of the composition. His legs are spread and gently flexed as he leans forward with bowed head and arms resting on two metal grips bolted to two enormous boulders to help him move them. A small expanse of the sea is visible between them at the very center of the composition. This scene depicts one of the son of Jupiter’s final labors, although its concrete identification has changed over time and its symbolic significance as an emblem is one of the most complex of the entire series. It is mistakenly listed in Charles II’s will as Hercules bearing the heavens -When Hercules was the World’s Atlas- and in 1911, Tormo identified it as Hercules separating mounts Calpe and Abyla. However, López Torrijos observed that this latter subject barely existed for classical authors and rejected Tormo’s interpretation on the grounds that only Seneca mentioned that episode. He added that it went unnoticed by other Spanish authors, who were more intent on narrating Hercules’ placement of the two famous columns in the Non plus ultra episode, which Charles V would later convert to Plus Ultra in reference to his overseas possessions. López Torrijos recalls that, according to Father Mariana’s General History of Spain, those columns were actually two boulders that narrowed the passage between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. On that basis, this scholar convincingly points out that, in the present painting, Hercules appears to be pulling the two boulders closer to each other, which would emphasize the view of the Spanish monarch as a figure who unites disparate lands and realms rather than separating them. Nevertheless, we should add that a decade before this series of paintings, Baltasar de Victoria expressly mentioned the separation of mounts Calpe and Abyla. Whatever the case may be, both Mariana’s and Vitoria’s narratives refer to Hercules’ relation with Spain and the creation of the Habsburg’s motto, which would more than sufficiently justify that episode’s inclusion in the painting series, given its markedly Spanish specificity. Compositionally, this canvas follows the norm for the entire group of works, centering on the hero’s active effort, which is presented with a difficult foreshortening for which no precedent has yet been discovered. Like the rest of the works in this series, it is intended to be viewed from below. Zurbarán’s pictorial solutions to different parts of the work are of particular interest. His presentation of the boulders and of the sea in the background is quite sketchy, and he adds movement to the latter with small, highly impasto brushstrokes. He varies the density of the paint on Hercules’ body in order to insure its anatomical coherency in such a complex foreshortening.
Ruiz Gómez, Leticia, En El Palacio del Rey Planeta, Úbeda de los Cobos, A. (ed), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, p.157
