Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo)
painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo in the Uffizi
Hercules and the Hydra is a c. 1475 tempera grassa-on-panel painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, forming a pair with the same artist's Hercules Slaying Antaeus. Both works are now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. It measures 17 cm (6.6 in) by 12 cm (4.7 in), small like all his surviving mythological paintings.
The large originals
It is assumed that both these are miniature copies by the artist of two out of the three enormous paintings on canvas of the Labours of Hercules commissioned from Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo probably by Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (rather than by his father) for the Palazzo Medici in the 1460s.
The originals were displayed in the Sala Grande designed to impress visitors. They were 6 braccia square or high—about 3.5 metres (some 12 feet square), so with over-life size figures; Hercules and the Nemean lion was the third. For some fifty years after their completion, these "were amongst the most famous and influential works of their time", but are now lost, "like nearly every canvas of the date". Paintings on cloth were still relatively unusual in Florence at that time.
In 1494, Antonio Pollaiulo wrote a letter to Gentile Virginio Orsini from Rome, which was at the time in the grip of an outbreak of plague, asking to be allowed home to Tuscany and hoping the Medicis would consent to the request because – "34 years ago I made the Labours of Hercules which are in the hall of their palace, made by me and my brother." They were in the Palazzo Medici inventory after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Giorgio Vasari, the Florentine art historian praised the series of paintings in his Vite (1550/1568):
"In the Medici Palace he painted three pictures for Lorenzo the elder, each containing a figure of Hercules, five braccia high.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo)” is painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo in the Uffizi. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hercules, Hydra and Pollaiuolo, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “painting by Antonio del Pollaiuolo in the Uffizi” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3731236. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1475, 1494, 1550 and 1568.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo) primary sources, Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo) archive and Hercules research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Hercules and the Hydra (Pollaiuolo)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.