# The Abduction of Deianeira [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FRANCO, Battista]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Etching on laid paper, 247 x 387 mm ## Commentary The Abduction of Deianeira c. 1550 Etching on laid paper, 247 x 387 mm Private collection Hercules is about to shoot the arrow that will kill the centaur Nessus, who is attempting to carry Hercules's bride away. Before he dies, Nessus will give Deianeira his bloody cloak and tell her that if Hercules's love ever fades, she should give him this cloak. She does and Hercules dies in agony from the blood which is poisonous. When Rubens was in Italy working for the Duke of Mantua, he purchased Franco's original drawing for this etching and worked on it. ## Related artworks - [Arrest of the Baptist]() - [Bacchantes with Apollo and Daphne]() - [Old Man Seated before a Statue of a Goddess]() - [The Baptism of Christ between Sts. Francis and Bernardine of Siena]() - [The Battle of Montemurlo and the Rape of Ganymede]() - [View of the Grimani Chapel]() - [View of the vault]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()