CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE HERCULES
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
The bearded hero depicted nude, standing in contrapposto with his weight on his straight right leg, his left bent at the knee and pulled back, his right arm slightly bent, lowered and projecting forward, holding an attribute in his hand, his muscular torso with well-defined pectorals and pronounced iliac crests, his head turned to his left, with thick curly locks and a voluminous beard and mustache, crowned with a diadem, his eyes recessed for now-missing inlays
9 3/8 in. (23.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 14 December 1994, lot 105.

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Lot Essay

The present figure is a version of the Albertini Herakles, named for a marble statue now in the Museo Nazionale Romano. The hero would originally have had his lionskin hanging from his left forearm and either a bow, arrows or the apples of the Hesperides in his left hand, and his club in his right. The type is based upon a Greek original of the 4th century B.C. For the pose, see nos. 292 and 302 in Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC.

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