He has to steal the belt of the Queen of the Amazons, then steal the cattle of the monster Geryon. As a bonus, he gets two extra tasks, to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, and finally to fetch Cerberus, guardian of the gates to the underworld.
Rubens
1. Kill the Nemean Lion, by stunning it with his club then strangling it with his bare hands. 2. Kill the Lernean Hydra, by cutting off its heads and searing the wounds, then removing its remaining immortal head. 3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
The son of Zeus when he raped Alcmene, Hera delayed his birth to trap Heracles into being forced to undertake his 12 labours, then tried to kill the infant by putting serpents into his cradle.
King of Ithaca, he first feigns madness to dodge going to war against Troy, but then uses his cunning and ingenuity to design the Trojan Horse and conquer the city. Runs into trouble with Polyphemus during the return journey to Ithaca.
El Greco’s uniquely painterly brushstrokes, the oil sketches and studies of Rubens, and Rembrandt, the first major artist to intentionally leave brushstrokes in prominent passages.
The son of Thetis, he was dipped in the water of the River Styx to make him invulnerable, apart from his left heel. He went missing from the thousand ships, when he went into hiding, but was recovered by Ulysses.
Collaborated with Jan Brueghel the Elder in early paintings, created his own landscapes from 1625, and a wonderful series of landscapes during his retirement in 1635-1640.
After feasting with Achelous, he got involved in the battle between Lapiths and centaurs. then struck disaster with incest, suicide and violent death, before abducting Helen, and being thrown from a cliff.
Humans have lived with trees since our origins, and trees feature in many paintings. This explains the importance of sketching them from life, and shows examples of different species and contrasting artists from Rubens and van Ruisdael to van Gogh and Cézanne.
A painting commissioned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany towards the end of the 30 Years’ War in Europe, details with its figures the suffering resulting from war, rather than the triumph of victory.
The Eclectic Light Company 