A BRONZE FIGURE OF HERCULES SUPPORTING THE CELESTIAL GLOBE

AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA AND PIETRO TACCA, ITALIAN OR FRENCH, LATE 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A BRONZE FIGURE OF HERCULES SUPPORTING THE CELESTIAL GLOBE
AFTER GIAMBOLOGNA AND PIETRO TACCA, ITALIAN OR FRENCH, LATE 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY
On a later circular verde antico marble base
30 in. (76.2 cm.) high, 34½ in. (87.6 cm.) high with base

Provenance

[By repute] William Randolph Hearst, St. Donat's Castle, Wales

Literature

Les bronzes de la couronne, exh. cat., Paris, 1999, no. 303.
A. Radcliffe and N. Penny, eds., The Robert H. Smith Collection: Art of the Renaissance Bronze, 1500-1650, London, 2004, no. 45.

Exhibited

The Age of the Marvelous, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1991, no. 10.
C. Avery and M. Hall, Giambologna: An Exhibition of Sculpture by the Master and his Followers from the Collection of Michael Hall, Esq., Salander O'Reilly Galleries, New York, 1998, no. 19.
Giambologna and his Followers: Sculpture from the Collections of Michael Hall, Miami-Dade College Museum of Art, Freedom Tower, 9 October 2009-20 February 2010.

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Lot Essay

This massive bronze, with the sturdy form of Hercules only slightly alleviated by the fluttering drapery, is close to the version attributed to Ferdinando Tacca and formerly in the French Royal collections (no. 303) and acquired in 2005 by Prince Hans-Adam II von and zu Liechtenstein for the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. Another version is in the collection of the late Robert Smith, Washington, D.C. The Washington version is slightly different than the present lot, as Avery notes, in the Hall version Hercules appears to be staggering under the weight of the globe as he marches along, rather than the more statuesque pose of the Washington version (Avery, op. cit., p. 60). And while the Liechtenstein and Washington versions are far more highly finished -- the Hall version does convey the impressive size and weight of a man literally supporting the heavens.

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