Statuette of a young man, probably Herakles
Etruscan
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 400 BC - 200 BC
Materials
Bronze sculpture on marble base.
Measurements
179 x 72 x 61 mm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515063
Summary
Bronze; figure of a man; Etruscan; c. 400-200 B.C. An Etruscan bronze figure of a naked standing man, probably the young Herakles (Hercules). His left hand holds an object, probably one of the apples of the Hesperides. A laurel wreath in his hair.
Full description
A bronze figure of a naked young man, with a laurel wreath in his hair, holding what appears to be an apple in the left hand, the right hand also held out before him. Mounted on a modern marble base. With its laurel wreath, the statuette may depict a victorious athlete, but it may alternatively represent the classical god Hercules (Herakles), as the object the man holds in his left hand appears to be an apple, and so would be one of the golden apples of the Hesperides, that Hercules was commanded to fetch for his eleventh Labour. The figure is closely comparable to a bronze formerly in the de Kolb collection, New York (Jerome M. Eisenberg, Art of the Ancient World. A Guide for the Collector and Investor. IV. Ancient, European, Oriental, Pre-Columbian and Tribal Works of Art, Royal-Athena Galleries, New York/Beverley Hills 1985, no. 183). It may also be compared with a votive statuette of a naked youth in the British Museum, dated c. 400-350 B.C. (Inv. 1865,0712.12. Sybille Haines, Etruscan Bronzes, London 1985, p. 302, no. 155). Jeremy Warren October 2021
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.
Makers and roles
Etruscan, sculptor Etruscan, 3rd century BC , sculptor