Twelve large-scale drawings for Disney’s much-loved 1997 animated feature, Hercules, will be offered in Sotheby’s London saleroom next month for the very first time. Featuring all of the film’s favourite characters - Meg, Hades, Zeus, Phil, and of course Hercules himself – the drawings will come to auction on 5 April directly from the personal collection of artist Gerald Scarfe, the film’s production designer.

In a career spanning five decades, Scarfe has established himself as one of the foremost caricaturists of our times. Best known as a political cartoonist, and named as one of the most 40 important newspaper journalists of the modern era, he has also received critical acclaim as the illustrator for Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and as a stage and set designer for The Nutcracker and Fantastic Mr Fox. All these facets of his career will be represented in the “Scarfe at Sotheby’s” sale. Please browse the catalogue online here.

Gerald Scarfe said: “I have been lucky enough to be able to expand my career beyond my work as a political cartoonist. Working as an artist is a lonely pursuit, and it’s wonderful to be able to collaborate with other creative people. John Musker and Ron Clements, producers for Walt Disney, followed my work when they were students in Chicago. Many years later, they contacted me and asked me if I would be production designer on Hercules. As I’d been a devoted fan since seeing Pinocchio as a boy, this job was particularly special and I had a great time on the movie, designing all the sets and characters and working directly with the brilliant Disney animators.”

Ahead of the public exhibition opening, Sotheby’s will hold a press preview for the sale in London 10am on Friday 31st March 2017. Please RSVP if you would like to attend. Highlights will also be on view from our “Made in Britain” sale – celebrating the London of the Swinging Sixties and a century of icons – alongside five hundred years of printmaking from Prints & Multiples.

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