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A Marble Figure of Herakles, Roman Imperial, probably Hadrianic, circa A.D. 117-138
Estimate
800,000 - 1,200,000 USD
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Description
- A Marble Figure of Herakles
- MArble
- Height 49 in. 124.5 cm.
striding resolutely with his left leg forward, his head turned sharply to his right, and formerly holding a club in his left hand, and wearing the Nemean Lion's skin over his head, upper back, and extended left forearm, the front paws knotted over his chest, his face with centrally-parted beard, full parted lips, and deep-set eyes beneath the prominent brow, his curly hair swept up above the forehead; all the extremities, except for the head, formerly restored in marble.
Provenance
European private collection(s), circa 17th Century (based on restoration techniques and peg-holes for the now missing fig-leaf)
Alfredo Barsanti (1877-1946), Via Sistina 48, Rome, by 1935 (based on the entry of the 1935 Image Library inventory book of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, neg. no. 35.2357, accessioned October 21st, 1935)
in storage in New York City for the last fifty years
Alfredo Barsanti (1877-1946), Via Sistina 48, Rome, by 1935 (based on the entry of the 1935 Image Library inventory book of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, neg. no. 35.2357, accessioned October 21st, 1935)
in storage in New York City for the last fifty years
Literature
Arachne no. 822734 (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rom, neg. no. 35.2357, re-inventoried 67.1959: http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilderbestand/822734)
B. Andreae, ed., Die staatlichen Sammlungen: Museo nazionale romano (Thermenmuseum); Museo nazionale di Villa Giulia (part 4 of Wolfgan Helbig, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom), Tübingen, 1969, p. 368
B. Andreae, ed., Die staatlichen Sammlungen: Museo nazionale romano (Thermenmuseum); Museo nazionale di Villa Giulia (part 4 of Wolfgan Helbig, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom), Tübingen, 1969, p. 368
Catalogue Note
For two other examples of this type, both restored as Herakles leading Kerberos out of Hades, see Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino, Sala degli Animali, inv. no. 488 (W. Amelung, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, vol. II, Berlin 1908, no. 213, pl. 34; LIMC, vol. IV, s.v. Herakles, no. 2662, illus.; G. Spinola, Il Museo Pio Clementino, vol. 1, Vatican City, 1996, cat. no. 42; http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/19379; http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilderbestand/1089125), and Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen, inv. no. 2462 (F. Poulsen, Catalogue of ancient sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen, 1951, no. 270a; LIMC, vol. IV, s.v. Herakles, no. 2661, illus.).