Hercules and Cerberus.

This small but vigorous etching depicts Hercules, seen from behind, killing the three-headed Cerberus. He is naked and grabs one of the monster's heads in the upper left. No one has yet come up with an identification for the anonymous 16th century Italian etcher who signed his works 'FP'. All his 26 etchings are after the important Mannerist artist Parmigianino, though only one, possibly two, seem to be copied from etchings by that master. The FP may simply stand for Francesco Parmigianino, leaving the etcher’s identity even more obscure.

Arthur M. Hind, in his classic <em>A History of Engraving and Etching </em>(1923 ed.), claims that FP's etchings possess "none of [Parmigianino's] swift and significant touch, and none of the gradation of colour that the master puts into his line. The initials are less probably those of the anonymous etcher than of... Francescus Parmesanus [i.e. Parmigianino] who is without doubt the inspirer of the designs".

Dr Mark Stocker     Curator, Historical International Art   March 2017