Colossal Head of Hercules of the Antinori-Naples Type
This head, set atop a modern bust, refers to the iconographic type of Hercules at rest, in particular the Pozzuoli-Antinori variant, in which the leonté, or the skin of the Nemean lion killed by the hero, covers the figure’s head with the animal’s face, with the paws knotted on the chest. The original model is attributed to the great sculptor Lysippos of Sicyon who was active in the fourth century BCE; the Borghese head is considered a replica datable to the second century CE.
Hercules is depicted with a compact mass of curls covering his head and merging into the thick beard that is longer near the chin. His stern expression is heightened by the heavy lids and sunken eyes.
Nibby recalls the sculpture for the first time in 1832, exhibited in Room 2 of the Palazzina Borghese, its present location.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height with modern bust 74 cm; height of the ancient 42 cm, head 0.41 cm, face 9.29 cm
Provenance
Borghese Collection, mentioned for the first time in 1832 by Nibby in room 2 (p.72). Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, C., p. 45, no. 66. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 19th century - Interventions executed in marble and stucco. Restorations on the neck with the lion skin up to above Heracles' ears, the right half of the face, the nose, the left eyebrow, a lock of the beard under the chin on the left. The bust is modern.
- 1996-97 - Liana Persichelli
Commentary
In 1832, Nibby placed this colossal head of Hercules in Room 2, where it is to this day, and defined it ‘well made’ (p. 72). This room, formerly called the Room of the Sun after a radiant sculpture of the god (Nibby 1832, p. 66), welcomes a sort of Herculean heroic cycle recurring in the iconography of many of the works in the Borghese Collection.
The only antique part of this colossal sculpture is the head, set atop a modern bust and covered by the leontè, which falls to the top of the shoulders, the paws knotted on the chest.
The head is bent a little forward and covered in a mass of short, dense curls that merge with the thick beard in front of the ears. The treatment of the beard is similar, but the relief of the curls is more marked, obtained with a drill. The eyes, surmounted by heavy lids, are sunken; the small mouth is slightly open.
The Borghese replica of the hero is ascribable to the second century CE and draws on the iconographic type of the hero at rest, which was very widespread and reproduced in numerous sculptures and coins. In particular, its main features seem to relate this work to the Pozzuoli-Antinori Type, the archetype of which is represented by a statue coming from Pozzuoli and preserved at the Archaeological Museum in Naples, in which the hero’s head is covered by the lion’s muzzle, while the animal’s front paws are knotted over his chest. The type is further represented by a statuette belonging to the Antinori Collection in Florence (Moreno 1994, pp. 491–492; Moreno 1995). The archetype dates back to a bronze original from the late fourth century BCE, attributed to Lysippos of Sicyon.
Giulia Ciccarello
Bibliography
- A. Nibby, Monumenti scelti della Villa Borghese, Roma 1832, p. 72.
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano del Palazzo della Villa Borghese, Roma 1840, p. 13, n. 6.
- A. Nibby, Roma nell’anno 1838, Roma 1841, p. 915, n. 6.
- Indicazione delle opere antiche di scultura esistenti nel primo piano del Palazzo della Villa Borghese, Roma 1854, p. 15, n. 6.
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 26.
- G. Giusti, La Galleria Borghese e la Villa di Umberto Primo a Roma, Roma 1904, p. 23.
- F. P. Johnson, Lysippos, Duhram 1927, p. 197.
- P. Della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese in Roma, (3° Edizione) Roma 1954, p.10
- M. Bieber, The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age, New York 1955, p. 37, fig. 79.
- R. Calza, Catalogo del Gabinetto fotografico Nazionale, Galleria Borghese, Collezione degli oggetti antichi, Roma 1957, p. 9, n. 45.
- P. Moreno, Museo e Galleria Borghese, La collezione archeologica, Roma 1980, p.13.
- P. Moreno, S. Staccioli, Le collezioni della Galleria Borghese, Milano 1981, p.101, fig. a p. 86.
- P. Moreno, Il Farnese ritrovato ed altri tipi di Eracle in riposo, in “Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome”, Antiquité, 84, 1982, pp. 379-526, in part. p. 522, n. B.8.4, figg. 137-138.
- P. Moreno, C. Sforzini, I ministri del principe Camillo: cronaca della collezione Borghese di antichità dal 1807 al 1832, in “Scienze dell’Antichità”, 1, 1987, p. 360.
- P. Moreno, s.v. Ercoli Farnese, in “Enciclopedia dell’arte antica classica e orientale”, vol. I, II Suppl., Roma 1994, pp. 489-494.
- P. Moreno, Ch. Stefani, Galleria Borghese, Milano 2000, p. 86, n. 7.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, pp. 168-169, n. 140.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/01008380, P. Moreno 1979; aggiornamento G. Ciccarello 2020
