Hercules of the Forum Boarium
by HEEMSKERCK, Maerten van, Pen and brown ink, 210 x 134 mm
Van Heemskerck’s drawing shows the Hercules of the Forum Boarium, a larger-than-life statue in gilded bronze, discovered at the end of the fifteenth century on the Forum Boarium in Rome. Soon after it was taken to the Palazzo dei Conservatori, where it remains. The statue was placed on a high pedestal at the right side of the courtyard, as recorded by van Heemskerck. The drawing also represents fragments of the Colossus of Constantine on the Capitoline.