French school around 1800 - Lot 99

Lot n° 99
Go to lot
Estimation :
1500 - 2000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 4 400EUR
French school around 1800 - Lot 99
French school around 1800 The drunken Hercules after the ancient Hercules from the forum of Velleja in Parma. Bronze with double brown and green patina. Dimensions : 26 cm on a hexagonal base in blackened and gilded wood (Restoration to the left arm, posterior patina). Related works Greece, Hellenistic period, Drunken Heracles, 3rd-2nd century BC, bronze statuette, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 15.57; Asia Minor, 332-30 BC, Drunken Hercules, bronze, H.: 18.5 cm Walters Art Gallery, no. 54.723; - Drunken Hercules (2nd century AD), bronze, Muzeo Nazionale of Parma, inv. B105, H. 26 cm. Related literature: John F. Kenfield III, "Bronze Herakles in the Metropolitan Museum: Drunkard or Wrestler?", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 415-419; - Jeremy Warren, Medieval and Renaissance sculpture. A Catalogue of the Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, volume 1, Sculptures in Metal, Ashmolean Publications, pp.180-185; Marco CAVALIERI, Debora BARBAGLI, Roberta CONVERSI, Alessandra GIUMLIA-MAIR, Veleia's Bronzes Collection. New Archeological and scientific data and interpretations, Université catholique de Louvain, in 18th international Congress on Ancient Bronzes, University of Zurich, 3-7 September 2013, https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal%3A161333/datastream/PDF_01/view Our work derives from the classical model known as "Hercules bibax", a late Hellenistic variant of the Herakles Epitrapezios of Lysippus. The body of the naked god is represented with a very pronounced spatial imbalance. The powerfully muscled torso leans deeply backwards and the belly protrudes, the head is tilted to the right, while the right arm brings a steeply sloping skyphos towards the hero's mouth. In his left hand, he was most likely holding his club. The half-open mouth, the posture of the head slightly tilted to the right and his legs bent and widely spread to seek stability give him the attitude of a man staggering under the influence of drunkenness. This work is reminiscent of the small ancient votive statuettes made in the Hellenistic period to respond to the cult of the Greek hero during lectisternes. These works were later revived and copied during the Renaissance, when a number of them were rediscovered, as attested by the example cast in northern Italy at the beginning of the 16th century and preserved in the Oxford Museum (Ashmolean Museum, H. 15.9 cm, no. WA1963.18). Our work is based on the most famous version of this iconographic type: the superb Roman bronze excavated from the forum of Velleja near Parma in 1760, during the excavations conducted by the Duke of Parma, Philippe de Bourbon. This statuette carried a skyphos in its right hand, of which only the foot remains, and held a club in its right hand, which was found later, which explains the absence of this attribute on the copies made after its discovery. The work became famous as soon as it was discovered, as evidenced by its mention in Winckelmann's work from 1783 (second volume of Storia delle arti del disegno presso gli Antichi, 1783-4, p.40, note 1) and a copy in bronze of fine casting quality and fixed on an identical circular base now preserved in Bologna (Museo Civico Medioevale, H. 26 cm, no. n°inv.1506). This work is part of the lots seized by the Napoleonic troops in 1797 and transported to Paris until 1815. It was presented in Paris at the Cabinet des Antiquités and met with a great deal of interest, which was followed by the production of numerous copies in plaster and bronze. It is known that Alexandre Lenoir, Vivant Denon and Ingres had casts of it. Our work, with its fine quality of execution and patina, fixed on a rectangular base, is part of the corpus of works cast in France during this period.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue