A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF HERCULES

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF HERCULES
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Depicted in his mature age, the hero wrapped tightly in his Nemean lionskin, revealing his soft paunchy stomach, his navel articulated, the pelt extending down with a fringe above the legs, the lion head positioned over his bent right arm, his right hand holding the pelt with the paw dangling against his corpulent bulge, his left arm bent back, cradling his knobbed club in the crook of his arm, with the wider end resting against his shoulder
20 in. (50.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, New York, 1980s.

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Lot Essay

This statue is a version of The Herakles Kavala type, reflecting a Greek original from at least as early as the 3rd century B.C., as supported by its appearance on an Italic carnelian scarab of that date now at the Lamia Museum (pl. 50.2 in Pantos, "Zwei Skarabäen hellenistischer Zeit aus Echinos" in Festschrift für Nikolaus Himmelmann). For a variant in marble see no. 867 in Boardman, "Herakles" in LIMC.

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