A ROMAN BRONZE HERCULES

This powerful figure of Hercules depicts the hero nude, standing with his weight on his left leg. He holds his club in his lowered right hand; the lion skin wraps around his left forearm with its head well articulated and the paws descending below. He may once have held another attribute in his hand. His short hair and beard are delineated by incision and the eyes were likely once inlaid. For the pose compare the Chiaramonti Herakles in the Vatican, a Roman copy in marble thought to be based on a Greek bronze original from the 4th century B.C. (see Boardman, "Herakles," LIMC, p. 752, and no. 461 for the Chiaramonti Herakles). While previous scholars have described this as Gallo-Roman, the attribution is not conclusive.