18 SALA D’ERCOLE (HALL OF HERCULES)
The Sala d’Ercole, or Hall of Hercules, was the first room of the new apartment painted by Allori and his workshop, between 1575 and 1576. In the room, which overlooks the Emperors’ Court, ten lunettes depict episodes from the life of Hercules, while the vault is dominated by grotesques that combine with the emblems, merging the figure of Hercules and that of the Salviati family in a single glorification. In the two ovals at the ends of the vault are represented Fortune and Fame, while in the other medallions are six landscapes, perhaps alluding to the hero’s wanderings. The two shields on the sides are likely to have once contained the Salviati coat of
arms, later replaced by the Ricciardi’s and the Serguidi’s on the right (see page 27). Documents show that the series of six landscapes on the ceiling of the Hall of Hercules were commissioned from a “Giovanni Fiammingo,” who was most probably the Flemish painter Giovanni Ponsi. Ponsi was a specialist in landscapes and in that capacity often collaborated with Allori. He appeared in the payments for the Sala di Ercole from 1574, and was specifically mentioned in connection with landscapes in 1574. The backgrounds of the ten lunettes with the Life of Hercules are also certainly attributable to him, while the figures were probably completed by another painter.
LIFE OF HERCULES
The series of ten lunettes include stories such as: Hercules strangles the Nemean lion Hercules confronts the Hydra, the nine-headed aquatic monster Hercules killing the Centaur Nessus
