Italian, first half 19th century

This sophisticated cast with finely chased surface is cast after the gigantic antique marble sculpture of the Farnese Hercules, signed by Glycon and now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples. The marble was first recorded in Rome in 1556, when it was displayed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese.

The Farnese Hercules became highly admired as one of the finest statues ever made and was thus often copied in various media and sizes since its rediscovery. Bronze reductions of the marble became a a prized possession for the Grand Tourist in 18th-century Italy and were produced by well-known artists including Zoffoli and Righetti.

RELATED LITERATURE

N. Penny, Haskell, Taste and the antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, p. 229-232, no. 46; A. Wilton and I. Bignamini, Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat. Tate Gallery, London, 1996, p.280, no. 235