Hercules Killing the Centaur Nessus

This Hercules Killing the Centaur Nessus at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, depicts the mythological hero's violent encounter with the centaur who attempted to abduct his wife Deianira. The subject allowed Ricci to display his mastery of the dynamic, muscular male figure in violent action. Ricci played a crucial role in the early eighteenth-century revival of Venetian painting, absorbing Veronese's colorism and Baroque dynamism into a lighter more decorative style that anticipated the Rococ...

The violent struggle between Hercules and Nessus is rendered with powerful physicality, Ricci's confident anatomy and dynamic composition creating a convincing sense of combat within his characteristically warm palette.