GEORGE RAYNER-HOFF
1894-1937

The relief depicts the Greek myth of Hercules and the River God, Achelous both wanting to marry the beautiful Deianera, daughter of Qeneus, King of Calydon. Achelous, usually depicted as either a horned water serpent or a bull. A fight ensues and Hercules wins by removing one of Achelous's horns and forcing him to surrender. The relief shows Hercules rescuing Deianera, holding her limp body in his arms whilst casting a sideways glance at his fallen foe.
The subject was part of Rayner Hoff's winning entry for the 1922 Prix de Rome competition. Versions exist in marble. bronze and plaster and are held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Museum od Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and the Howard Hinton Collection, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale.