Hercules en Deïanira c. 1701

Curator: At first glance, I see longing. A tension between figures, not quite connecting. What is your initial impression? Editor: It feels immediate, a snapshot of myth. Let's explore "Hercules and Deianira," a pen and ink drawing from around 1701, attributed to Jacob Toorenvliet. The reddish-brown ink gives it a warmth that belies the drama within the story. Curator: Exactly! Look how Deianira’s arm extends, almost imploringly, while Hercules, the hero, seems anchored, monumental. Is she leading him, or pushing him? Her gaze seems averted, burdened with unspoken anxieties. Editor: I think it's so powerful how Toorenvliet captures them caught between heroic expectation and mortal vulnerability. Hercules, of course, is always walking that tightrope. His lion skin is only partially visible; we see him less as the legendary hero here. Curator: True, it’s intimate. I get a sense of domesticity, as odd as that seems for the mythic strongman. The curve of her arm and the possessive way she holds his shoulder says a lot. There's a subtle visual language to their intertwined forms, suggesting dependence. The shadow from his thigh is subtly evocative too. Editor: You picked up on the shadow I feel like the whole piece lives in a liminal space. Deianira herself, as the conduit of his ultimate demise by use of poisoned garment in the classic story is also such an amazing archetypal symbol too: love as a lethal trap. Is this before or after she sends him the poisoned cloak? That we cannot know heightens the piece’s tension. Curator: Leaving us to write our own stories. Even in an unfinished form, Toorenvliet manages to imbue the scene with immense tension. And in rendering his two subjects he really opens himself, offering so much opportunity for contemplation. Editor: I think I now also see a raw honesty here too – the way the artist sketched bare human figures and ancient symbolic ideas at once. It captures their fateful relationship – and does it so concisely and movingly, to its everlasting credit.