Labour XI – The Weight of Gold draws on the myth of Hercules’ eleventh labour: the quest for the golden apples of the Hesperides. The sacred garden, located at the western edge of the world in perpetual twilight, was guarded by the Hesperides Aegle, Erytheia and Hesperia and by Ladon, the immortal hundred-headed serpent. Before finding Atlas, Hercules freed Prometheus by killing the eagle that devoured his liver each day. In gratitude, Prometheus revealed where Atlas could be found. Condemned by Zeus to bear the heavens upon his shoulders, Atlas agreed to retrieve the apples while Hercules temporarily bore the heavens in his place. When Atlas refused to resume his burden, Hercules outwitted him, persuading him to hold the heavens once more while he adjusted his lion skin, then departed with the apples.
The landscape evokes the mythical western edge of the world, where the garden of the Hesperides was said to exist in perpetual dusk. The constellation Hercules appears at the top of the vessel, linking the hero’s earthly labours to his immortal place among the stars.