Probably Italian, 17th century

Christie's, London, 5 December 1972, lot 41;

Where acquired by the present owner, private collection, United Kingdom

Another cast of the present model was published in 1962 as part of the Irwin Untermyer collection (op. cit.). The catalogue attributed it to the Venetian sculptor Vittore Gambello, called Camelio (c. 1460–1537), on account of a comparison with the battling giants of Camelio's signed bronze reliefs in the Ca' d'Oro, Venice. On stylistic grounds, however, this attribution is unconvincing. Instead, the figure's Mannerist physique and dynamic pose suggest an origin of the model in the early 17th century. Identified as Hercules because of the attribute of the club, the present bronze bears an affinity with models associated with the elusive Ciechanowiecki Master, who may have been active in Rome or Augsburg in the first half of the 17th century. See, in particular, the gilt bronze Hercules wielding a club in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. A.93-1956). The sketchy modelling of the present figure's head, however, differs from bronzes in the Ciechanowiecki group.

RELATED LITERATURE

Bronzes, Other Metalwork and Sculpture in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1962, p. xxii and pl. 36, fig. 39