CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Hercules is the emblematic hero of Greco-Roman mythology, embodying classical conceptions of ideal masculinity, strength and perseverance. As such, the hero finds himself as one of the most reproduced subjects in both Greek and Roman art across varying media. Bronze and marble sculptors favored Hercules particularly as he provided a ripe opportunity to depict the idealized male form in all its muscular glory. The present example, dating to the Roman Imperial period, finds the model for its dynamic musculature from a 4th century B.C. example, colloquially called the Copenhagen/Dresden Herakles, thought to have been created by a follower of Polykleitos around 360 B.C. (see nos. 667 and 668 in J. Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC, vol. IV). The addition of the Nemean lion-skin cape tied at the paws above his pectorals, finds a parallel in a slightly later sculptural type created around 325-320 B.C., exemplified in an example at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (op. cit., no. 465).