CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

The pose and the placement of the remains of now-missing supports allow us to identify this small scale muscular torso as the hero Hercules. He leans on his club, resting after completing the last of his labors: retrieving the golden apples of the Hesperides, which he originally held in his left hand behind his back. This type (also known as the Farnese type) was widely copied in Roman times in a variety of sizes. For a similar, larger example in the Geneva Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (inv. no. MF 1325) see D. Krull, Der Herakles vom Typus Farnese. Kopienkritische Untersuchung einer Schöpfung des Lysipp, 1985, p. 94, no. 23.