Statue of Hercules, fragment

Roman art

This sculpture, which is missing the lower part of the legs and of the right arm, portrays a bearded Hercules with his head crowned with a wreath of poplar leaves decorated with two ribbons that hang down to his shoulders. In his left hand, the hero holds his club and the leontè, the skin of the lion he killed. The subject is probably Hercules either drinking or making a sacrifice before an altar.

The statue was unearthed during excavations carried out in Olevano, on the via Nomentana, by Gregory Castellani in 1826. In 1833, it was on display in the portico of the Palazzina Borghese.  Inspired by Hellenistic models from the circle of Lysippos, the sculpture is datable to the second century CE.

Object details

Commentary

This sculpture was discovered during excavations in 1826 led by Gregorio Castellani at Olevano, on the via Nomentana.  The list of finds, dated 22 April 1826, reads: ‘A Hercules with the club, and his head, missing the thighs and legs’ (Archivio Stato di Roma, Camerlengato, parte II, tit. IV, b. 167, fasc. 430, prot. 13981-14190: Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 350, fig. 8). In 1833, it was recorded as on view in the Portico of the Palazzina Borghese (Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, C., p. 41, no. 7). Moreno mentioned in 1987 that it was in storage in the Palazzina’s basement, describing it as a ‘piece that has never been restored’ (Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 350, fig. 8).

The figure, which is preserved up to the join of the knee, places its weight on the left leg, while the right one must have been slightly bent and moved forward. The remaining part of the right arm (the biceps) hangs down along the torso. The leontè, the skin of the lion killed by the hero, is draped over the left arm, which is intact. The club, one of Hercules’s attributes, is covered with knots and held in the hero’s left hand, resting on his left shoulder.

The torso twists slightly towards the more tense side, emphasised by the figure’s nudity, which enhances the muscular tension. The nude body is sculpted and toned, with protruding pectoral muscles, incised nipples and well-defined abdominals. The linea alba is particularly clear and ends at the genitals, all that remains of which is the pubic hair.

The head is turned to the right and crowned with an elaborately styled head of hair. The gathered curls are topped with a wreath of poplar leaves embellished with two long ribbons that hang down to the figure’s shoulders. The face is covered with a thick beard of compact, chiaroscuro curls. Delicate eyebrows frame the almond-shaped eyes, which have lines at the corners.

The fragmentary nature of the sculpture prevents us from securely identifying the subject. In 2003, Moreno interpreted it as Hercules Victor in the act of making a sacrifice, imagining that there was originally a patera in the right hand, as is the case with a relief from the Temple of Hercules in Ostia (Becatti 1939, pp. 37–61; Moreno, Viacava 2003, p. 78, no. 26). There is a statue of Hercules Victor, with a club over his left shoulder and a crown with ribbons hanging down over his shoulders, in the Museo Chiaramonti, that shares strong similarities with the Borghese copy (Viacava 1995, p. 61, no. 4.6.1).

Moreno also suggested that it could be a Hercules Bibax, or drinker, which was especially popular in small bronze production. The pose of an exemplar of this type from Qarvat al-Faw is similar to that of the present sculpture, suggesting that the left arm was held out in front of the body and bent (Cotty 2010, p. 334, no. 155).

To conclude, analysis of stylistic features such as the gentle torsion of the torso and the realistic muscle tension, deriving from Hellenistic models in the circle of Lysippos, suggest a date for the sculpture in the second century CE.

Giulia Ciccarello