Hercules and Deianira stare lovingly into each other's eyes, their interlocking legs a sign of their conjugal bliss. For the poses of the figures Gossaert considered Jacopo de' Barbari's Cleopatra engraving (British Museum) and also recalled Jacopo Ripanda's Neptune and Amphitrite, a fresco that he saw in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome, where he made a drawing of the Spinario. Hercules has put down his club, resting from the labors and events represented in small panels below: killing Antaeus, with the Hydra of Lerna, wearing the skin of the Nemean lion, cleaning the Augean stables, and holding the world for the giant Atlas. Deianira sits on the tunic that will later cause her husband's demise. (http://www.metmuseum.org)