Hercules at the Crossroad
1498
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1498
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A young man stands between two women in a dark forest. One woman holds a club; the other lounges with a goat-legged creature. This isn’t the usual Hercules fighting monsters. Dürer shows a Greek story where Hercules chooses between a hard but good life or an easy, lazy one. The trees split the scene—one path climbs, the other stays flat. Look up *chiaroscuro* to see how light and shadow shape the drama.
![Madonna and Child [obverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/d7b8ebf05d22ebe5/thumb.webp)
![Lot and His Daughters [reverse]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/b4ebf9b282faa17a/thumb.webp)
