A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE FARNESE HERCULES
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF JOHN GAINES (LOTS 538 - 549)
A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE FARNESE HERCULES

PROBABLY ROMAN, 17TH CENTURY

细节
A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE FARNESE HERCULES
PROBABLY ROMAN, 17TH CENTURY
Depicted standing with his left arm resting on top of his club and holding three apples behind his back with his right hand, on an integrally cast base, with a paper label 'A-154'
35 in. (89 cm.) high, 17 in. (43 cm.) wide, 12¾ in. (32.5 cm.) deep

拍品专文

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Natur und Antike in der Renaissance, exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt am Main, 1985, p. 576.

This bronze is modelled after a Roman marble dating from about 200 A.D., now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, which is in turn derived from a 4th century B.C. original, thought to be by the sculptor Lyssipus. The Roman sculpture was discovered in the Baths of Caracalla, Rome, by 1556 and was acquired by Pope Paul III Farnese, where he displayed it in the arcade around the courtyard of the Farnese Palace, Rome.

Hercules is shown here resting after having completed the twelve tasks assigned to him by Eurystheus and as instructed by the Delphic Oracle. He leans wearily on his club and the Nemean lion's skin, and holds behind his back the three golden apples that eventually ensured his immortality.

While known in many versions, the present lot is exceptional in its dramatic size and is a magnificent example of Italian metalwork. It appears to be an identical cast to the one in the Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen, Residenzmuseum, Munich (Frankfurt a. M., op. cit., p. 576).