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Primary sourcePainting23 May 1906

The Infant Hercules and the Standard Oil Serpents

Frank A. Nankivell · 23 May 1906

A 1906 Puck cartoon depicts a struggle with serpents representing Standard Oil, likely including a depiction of Rockefeller.

This cartoon may depict Rockefeller as one of the serpents representing the power of his Standard Oil company.

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Magazine page from Puck, May 23, 1906, with a color cartoon by Frank A. Nankivell titled 'The infant Hercules and the Standard Oil serpents'. A bald infant with glasses and a mustache struggles against two large serpents; one serpent has a bald, red-eyed old man's head, and another has a bald head with a white beard held in the baby's grip.
Frank A. Nankivell, The Infant Hercules and the Standard Oil Serpents, Puck, 23 May 1906.

About this source

What it is

This colored cartoon was published in Puck magazine on 23 May 1906, drawn by artist Frank A. Nankivell. It shows a bald infant wearing glasses and a mustache struggling against two large serpents, one with the head of a bald, red-eyed old man and another with a bald, white-bearded head.

Why it matters

The cartoon uses the myth of the infant Hercules strangling serpents to comment on efforts to battle the power of Standard Oil, the company Rockefeller built. While it is not certain the serpents represent specific individuals, the imagery reflects widespread public anxiety about the size and influence of Standard Oil during this period of trust-busting reform.

Look closer

  • What might the serpents represent, and why might the artist have given them human heads?
  • How does using a mythological reference change the way viewers might think about this political struggle?
  • What does the infant's unusual appearance, with glasses and a mustache, suggest about who the cartoonist might be referencing?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John D. Rockefeller on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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