Details

LOT 255447

Roman Bronze Statuette of Resting Hercules

3RD CENTURY A.D.

6 1/8 in. (715 grams, 15.5 cm).

Depicted as lar and modelled nude in a standing pose with the right hand resting on the handle of his club, left arms supporting the lionskin mantle; hair cut short and beard textured.

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market, 1990s.
Private collection, New York, USA.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13295-255447.

Literature

Cf. for similar typologies Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Paris, 1897, p.211, 7 and 9; 212 nos.1,2,7; 214,2 and 5; Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, items 98,101; Salskov Roberts, H., ‘types of Herakles statuettes in Copenhagen that reflects large classical sculptures’ in Mattusch, C.C., Brauer, A., Knudsen, S.E., From the parts to the whole, volume 2, Acts of the 13th International Bronze Congress, held at Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28-June 1, 1996, Cambridge, 1996, pp.83-88, figs.6,8.

Footnotes

The position of our statuette, belonging to the typology of ‘resting’ Hercules, is unconventional, probably belonging to a more archaic period prototype (Reinach, 1897, p.211,7). By the late 300s or early 200s B.C., the depiction of Herakles wearing the lion's skin over his head had gone out of favour in Greek art.

A worshipper probably placed this statuette in a sanctuary as an offering to the deity, or in his house as a housekeeper and protector. The vast majority of the small Heracles statuettes are, of course, ex-votos, and the donors were most likely herdsmen practising transhumance, considering his function as protector of the flocks. Statuettes of the god found in provinces like Gallia, Britannia, or Pannonia might have been appealed to Italic soldiers serving further north and could easily have been carried with them on campaign.