Details

LOT 0126

Roman Marble Head of Hercules Wearing the Nemean Lion Skin

IMPERIAL, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

11 1/4 in. (8 kg total, 28.5 cm including stand).

Modelled with naturalistic features, gazing left, sculpted pupils and strong lids; luxuriant beard and moustache framing the face; strong forehead with tightly formed curls emerging from beneath the lion's skin hood; the hood with clear eye detailing and the mane with regularly arranged tufts; original iron pin to the front of the muzzle; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

Private Germany collection, 1981.
with Gorny and Mosch, 19 June 2013, no.3.
Ex A.S.collection, Florida, 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.12085-214457.

Literature

See Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire Grecque et Romaine, Paris, 1897, p.211, item 3; Kansteiner, S., Herakles, Die Darstellungen in der Grossplastik der Antike, Köln, 2000, pp.32ff., figs.45-48, for the type; Kansteiner, S., ‘Lysipps Statuen des Herakles’ in Archaeologischer Anzeiger, 2020 (1), pp.120-136ff., fig.14.

Footnotes

The head is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, of ‘Palazzo Pitti/Wilton House’ type depicting Hercules wearing the skin of the Nemean lion with the paws of the lion crossed upon the breast, his left arm holding the club and the right hand holding the golden apples of Hesperides. The representation of a slight movement of the head also shows elements of the Lysippean Antalya-Borghese type (example from the Archaeological Museum of Naples with the head covered by the Nemean lion skin).