Neoclassical Sculptor Hermes At Rest Bronze Sculpture On Gray Marble Base

Neoclassical sculptor, "Hermes at rest", bronze sculpture on gray marble base, 51x49x36 cm. The sculpture represents a copy of a famous classic model. It is, in fact, Hermes at rest, a bronze sculpture from 79 AD. approximately, Roman copy found during the excavations of the Vesuvian area on 3 August 1758 in the peristyle of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. In 1799 due to the revolution, Ferdinand I transferred a group of works including the Hermes to Palermo but in 1816 it is documented again in Portici in 1816. The work is currently preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

The Roman copy is in turn a derivation of a work, Seated Hermes, by the Greek sculptor Lysippus, the version of which with more certain attribution is preserved in the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna. It depicts the god Hermes sitting on a rock at rest, in an unusual pose for a deity who symbolizes speed, movement, who is named as a messenger, protector of travelers and as a psychopomp. In fact, it is filmed in an unusual moment, giving the divine figure with the winged shoes an unexpected humanity full of pathos. It was one of the most popular models for souvenirs for travelers on the Grand Tour from the second half of the 18th century and throughout the 19th.
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