After a model by Stefano Maderno (1571-1636) Italian, 17th century

Christie's London, 7 December 1993, lot 122

J. Warren, Beauty and Power. Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection, exh. cat. The Wallace Collection, London, The Huntington Art Collections, San Marino, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, London, 2010, p. 86

Overall the condition of the bronze is good with dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. The bronze is cast in sections and joints are visible above Hercules' knees and through Antaeus' proper left knee. There are numerous casting flaws, such as small fissures and lacunae (e.g. to below Hercules' arms, to Hercules' lower back, to the feet of both figures and to Antaeus' proper right shin). There is are larger lacunae to the back of Antaeus' head and to Hercules' proper right foot. Some lacunae appear to be filled with wax, such as to underneath Antaeus' feet. There is a larger fissure to Antaeus' proper left elbow. There are various small nicks to the surface. Antaeus probably held a lost attribute in his proper right hand. There are black marks, including to Antaeus' chest, neck and proper right arm. There is greening to some of the crevices. There is some rubbing to the surface, including to Antaeus' proper right knee. The base is in good condition with some splitting to the wood consistent with material.
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This fine bronze compares closely with another cast of Stefano Maderno's Hercules and Antaeus in the Peter Marino collection, which is believed to date to the 17th century (size: 47cm., see, Warren, op. cit. no. 7). The hands and feet, with their broad, prominent, nails, are very similar to those of the Marino group.  The way in which the tongue has been chased, the teeth cursorily delineated with a few chisel marks, and the pupils incised, together with the presence of coarse filemarks are characteristics of both bronzes. Most significantly perhaps, in both groups, Hercules' legs and Antaeus' proper left leg have been cast separately, leaving visible casting joints.

Maderno's Hercules and Antaeus, represents the mythical contest between Hercules and the giant king of Libya, Antaeus, who was famed for his invincibility. Learning that Antaeus' strength derived from the earth, Hercules' simply lifted the giant off from the ground and suffocated him. According to Jeremy Warren, Maderno's group is partly inspired by a colossal ancient Roman marble representing the contest, which was sent to Florence by Pius IV in 1560 and was installed in the Pitti, where it remains today. Hercules' pose in the ancient group, with legs spread apart, is particularly comparable to the demi-god's stance in Maderno's composition. Warren suggests that the figure of Antaeus is derived from the representation of the giant in a group atop the Fountain of Hercules at the Villa Reale, Castello, which was designed by Niccolò Tribolo and sculpted by Bartolomeo Ammanati after 1550.

An early terracotta model of the Hercules and Antaeus, signed and dated by Maderno in 1620, can be found in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. no. 198I.I). The present group is, however, closer to the terracotta, which is signed and dated 1622, in the Galleria Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro, Venice (inv. no. 81). It is from this group that each of the later bronze versions of the model are believed to have been cast, although mostly without the treetrunk support and lionskin (Warren, op. cit., p. 85). Bronze versions can be found in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Skulpturensammlung, Dresden (height: 53.7cm, inv. no. H⁴ 153/5); the Museum of Art, Toledo (height: 52.7cm., inv. no. 52.14) (with lionskin); the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (height: 55.3cm., inv. no. 54.665) (with integral base and tree trunk); and the Art Museum, Cincinnati (height: 52.1cm., inv. 1982.30) (with lionskin). Warren notes that the Marino bronze is comparable to the Dresden cast, which has the earliest recorded provenance of each of the groups, having been acquired from the Brühl collection in 1765.

The present bronze differs from each of the other known versions of the Hercules and Antaeus, both in bronze, terracotta and clay, in that Antaeus' proper right arm and hand are raised, rather than being clenched to Hercules' forehead.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964, vol. II, pp. 593, 594; A. Nava Cellini, Maderno, Milan, 1966; H. R. Weihrauch, Europäische bronzestattuetten 15.-18. Jahrhundert, Braunschweig, 1967, pp. 246-247, fig. 299