AN ITALIAN SERPENTINE FIGURE OF THE FARNESE HERCULES

This serpentine model of the Farnese Hercules is after a Roman marble dating from circa 200 A.D., now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, and which is in turn a copy of a fourth century B.C. original possibly by Lysippus. The Roman marble was discovered in the Baths of Caracalla, Rome by 1556 and was acquired shortly after by Pope Paul III Farnese. The sculpture was on display in the arcade around the courtyard of the Farnese Palace in Rome until 1787 but was then moved to Naples after being restored by Carlo Albacini. Here, the hero Hercules is shown resting after having completed the twelve tasks assigned him. He leans wearily on his club and the Nemean lion's skin, and holds behind his back the three golden apples that would eventually ensure his path to immortality (F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique - The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 229-232, no. 46).
This lot appears in Claudio Bravo's painting Bronces Romanos, 1986 (P. Bowels and M. Vargas Llosa, Claudio Bravo Pinturas y Dibujos, Madrid, 1996, p. 143).