RB035
Roman bronze Herakles.
1st-2nd century AD.
H. 10.1 cm. (4 in.).
Missing club, left foot and left hand. Fine dark green patina with reddish-brown spots.
Ex. Luxembourgian private collection, 1980???s
Sold
Herakles, the Mythological hero is presented as a young man, beardless and nude. He is standing frontal with his head slightly turned to the left, his body in contraposto posture, with his weight on his straight right leg, his left leg relaxed and slightly bent in, the right arm relaxed, holding the now missing club and the left arm raised forward to hold the second attribute, possibly the apples of Hesperides, or the bow. The Nemean lion skin covers his head and shoulders and tied over his chest, falling over his back and twisted around his left arm.
Herakles is standing in a heroic posture. His face with rounded features, framed with stylized curls below the lion skin. The athletic body is finely modeled with details of the anatomic parts.
Figures of young Herakles with the Nemean lion skin on the head are rare in Roman art. The detailed style and the posture suggest that the figure is modeled after a Greek classical prototype.
Cf. Miho Museum, Herakles, 4th-3rd century BC. http://www.miho.or.jp/booth/html/artcon/00002941e.htm
For Roman baby Herakles with the Nemean lion`s skin, cf. Wealth of the Ancient World, The Hunt Collections, 1983, p. 123, fig. 41.
Wealth of the Ancient World, The Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt Collections, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1983.
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