Hercules and the Wild Boar 1989

Boris Vallejo painted this scene of Hercules and the Wild Boar with oils, maybe in the 1980s. The dominant colours are brown and ochre, like old photographs or vintage paperbacks. I wonder what Boris was thinking as he painted Hercules hoisting the boar over his head? Did he imagine the weight, the grunts, and the smell of boar sweat and fury? I can imagine him really getting into the character and flexing his own muscles as he made this painting. I bet he felt as powerful as his muscled heroes! The brushwork is kind of tight, like everything is carefully rendered. It reminds me of some science fiction art, or even the religious paintings in the Met. What’s interesting to me is that he is taking a genre that often has macho and even creepy associations, and then bringing a kind of classical compositional sensibility to it. Maybe that’s what makes it so memorable. It’s all part of the great tradition, like Manet said, isn’t it?