Statue of the Roman hero formerly in the Baths of Caracalla, then owned by Paul III
Farnese Hercules
Artist
Glykon, reproduced from the original by Lysippos
Year
c. 216 AD (4th century BC for original)
Type
Statue
Medium
Marble
Subject
Hercules
Dimensions
3.17 m (10.5 ft)
Location
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
The Farnese Hercules (Italian: Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; he was an Athenian[1][2] but he may have worked in Rome. Like many other Ancient Roman sculptures it is a copy or version of a much older Greek original that was well known, in this case a bronze by Lysippos (or one of his circle) that would have been made in the fourth century BC.[3] This original survived for over 1500 years until it was melted down by Crusaders in 1205 during the Sack of Constantinople. The enlarged copy was made for the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (dedicated in 216 AD), where the statue was recovered in 1546,[4] and is now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples. The heroically-scaled Hercules is one of the most famous sculptures of antiquity,[5] and has fixed the image of the mythic hero in the European imagination.
Right hand behind the back with the apples.
The Farnese Hercules is a massive marble statue, following a lost original that was cast in bronze through a method called lost wax casting. It depicts a muscular, yet weary, Hercules leaning on his club, which has the skin of the Nemean lion draped over it. In myths about Heracles, killing the lion was his first task. He has just performed one of the last of The Twelve Labours, which is suggested by the apples of the Hesperides he holds behind his back.
The type was well known in antiquity, and among many other versions a Hellenistic or Roman bronze reduction, found at Foligno is in the Musée du Louvre. A small Roman marble copy can be seen over the Museum of the Ancient Agora, Athens (see illustration).
^Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Glycon
^Cast of the Farnese Hercules, c.1790 - Royal Academy of Arts
^Bieber 1961; Robertson 1975. On the original and its copies, see Krull 1985.
The FarneseHercules (Italian: Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed...
Farnese Marbles, their collection of statuary, which includes world-famous works like the FarneseHercules, Farnese Cup, Farnese Bull and the Farnese...
Palazzo Farnese ([paˈlattso farˈneːze, -eːse]) or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic...
century, the FarneseHercules has inspired artists such as Jeff Koons, Matthew Darbyshire and Robert Mapplethorpe to reinterpret Hercules for new audiences...
The Farnese Bull (Italian: Toro Farnese), formerly in the Farnese collection in Rome, is a massive Roman elaborated copy of a Hellenistic sculpture. It...
recovered from the ruins include famous sculptures such as the Farnese Bull and the FarneseHercules. Today the Baths of Caracalla are a tourist attraction....
Hellenistic Egypt FarneseHercules, ancient sculpture, formerly in the Farnese collection in Rome Various palazzi and villae built by the Farnese family: Palazzo...
and Hercules the hero. The sculpture stands seven feet (2.1 meters) tall, and the sphere is 65 centimeters (26 inches) in diameter. The name Farnese Atlas...
the life of Hercules. The Herculean theme was probably selected because the FarneseHercules was standing at the time in the Palazzo Farnese.[citation needed]...
preserved in Delphi), the similar Oil Pourer (Dresden and Munich), the FarneseHercules (which was originally placed in the Baths of Caracalla, although the...
with stories of Hercules, appropriate since the room housed the famous Greco-Roman antique sculpture of the hypermuscular FarneseHercules. Annibale meanwhile...
well-known pieces recovered from the Baths of Caracalla are the Farnese Bull and FarneseHercules and larger-than-life-sized early 3rd century patriotic figures...
against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian...
treasures of art were placed. In the Baths of Caracalla, the FarneseHercules and the Farnese Bull (now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples), the...
The Villa Farnese, also known as Villa Caprarola, is a pentagonal mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Lazio, Italy,...
contrast to the bearded, burly and perhaps more familiar FarneseHercules. The statue of Hercules from Forum Boarium is based on his twelve labors where...
elaborate fresco the Loves of the Gods for the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (where the FarneseHercules which influenced both him and Agostino Carraci was housed)...
the same type as the FarneseHercules. Ancient Greece portal Greece portal Visual arts portal Antikythera wreck FarneseHercules Ancient Greek sculpture...
2013 Koons created the sculpture Gazing Ball (FarneseHercules), which was inspired by the FarneseHercules. The sculpture is made from white plaster and...
dating from the 4th/3rd century BC Statuette of a satyr Statuette of FarneseHercules Bust of Herodotus (2nd century AD) Bust of the Roman emperor Antoninus...
her features to Omphale, Gérôme's feminine reinterpretation of the FarneseHercules. On that occasion, the artist had himself photographed in his studio...
Urbino or the Bandini Pietà and refers to the FarneseHercules (since by Michelangelo man is seen as Hercules). Pronounced is the muscle of the Child and...
works of art within the Farnese collection that have some provenance established, such as the FarneseHercules and the Farnese Bull. It was once displayed...
whose pose for the self-titled image in 1983 has been compared to the FarneseHercules. Mapplethorpe was a participant observer for much of his erotic photography...
Global Information
