The Infant Hercules with a Serpent

The Infant Hercules with a Serpent is an oil-on-panel painting created by Pieter van der Werff in 1711. The work depicts a mythological scene and measures 34.5 cm in height by 43 cm in width. Historical records indicate the piece was owned by Adriaan van der Hoop, whose collection was subsequently acquired by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The painting remains part of the museum's holdings today.

The painting The Infant Hercules with a Serpent by Pieter van der Werff is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It forms part of the specific Adriaan van der Hoop collection housed within the museum's holdings. The work was originally owned by Adriaan van der Hoop before entering the public institution. The piece is cataloged with the accession number SK-A-3262.

Critical reception of The Infant Hercules with a Serpent has long recognized its dynamic portrayal of youthful strength confronting danger, a theme resonant in Dutch mythological painting of the early 18th century. Scholarship situates the work within van der Werff's broader output of mythological scenes that blend Baroque drama with Dutch realism, reflecting the era's fascination with classical narratives rendered for elite private collections. The painting's inclusion in Adriaan van der Hoop's renowned cabinet illustrates how such works functioned as cultural capital among Amsterdam's patrician class, linking artistic production to the commercial prosperity of the Dutch Republic.

Its technical execution on panel and precise rendering of drapery underscores van der Werff's mastery of compositional tension within mythological subjects.

The work was copied by several artists, including Jacob de Keyser, and became part of the corpus of mythological paintings in Dutch collections, influencing later depictions of infant deities in European art. Its presence in the Rijksmuseum and Adriaan van der Hoop’s collection helped preserve the image of the infant Hercules in museum contexts, where it is studied alongside other mythological works. The painting’s composition informed later interpretations of the myth in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in academic curricula that emphasized heroic infancy.

Contemporary scholarship cites it as an example of Dutch mythological painting that bridged Baroque tradition and Enlightenment-era antiquarian interest.

The Infant Hercules with a Serpent is a 1711 oil painting by Pieter van der Werff, a Dutch painter active during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.