Farnese Hercules. Bronze Sculpture, France Or Italy, Late 18th Century.

Bronze with a beautiful black patina, on a base in yellow Siena marble and black molding. Total height with its base: 47 cm. The bronze alone: 34 cm Our sculpture, by its style, its proportions, the modeling of the musculature and the finely chiseled details, directs us towards a French or Italian sculptor of the end of the 18th century, beginning of the 19th century. The power of one of the most venerated heroes of ancient Greece is perfectly represented here. Standing and placed on a base, he leans on his club covered with the leonte (skin of the Nemean lion) and holding behind his back the three golden apples of the garden of the Nereids. It is a particularly successful model! The Farnese Hercules, discovered in 1546 in the baths of Caracalla in Rome, is one of the major pieces of the Farnese collection. This is a colossal marble statue, carved in the round and currently on display at the Archaeological Museum of Naples. This Roman copy, dating from the 3rd century AD, is an enlargement of a Greek bronze original from the end of the 4th century BC, by the Greek sculptor Lysippos of Sicyon. This statue was part of the decoration of the Baths of Caracalla, built in Rome between 212 and 216 AD, and adorned with statues from various periods. The monumentality of the statues corresponds to the gigantism of the baths. Of the forty statues found, out of the hundred that decorated them, two lines of the decorative program can be outlined: on the one hand, the exaltation of physical power, on the other the search for rare and dramatic mythological themes. The Farnese Hercules was matched by another colossal statue, now preserved in the palace of Caserta, the Latin Hercules. From a stylistic point of view, we recognize the characteristics of the sculptor Lysippos: the slender appearance of Hercules, the proportional relationships: the body is eight times the head, the triangular composition thanks to the club which serves as a "crutch" and integrates harmoniously with the rest of the statue. Because of his fame, many copies in marble and bronze were executed, some in ancient times, then many from the 17th century onwards… *Payment facilities possible Very good condition, sold with certificate.