You searched , Object Type: “tesserae pavement

Show me:
and
Clear all filters

  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • 1 items Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore

Select a time period

Or choose a specific year

Clear all filters

Hercules

John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770)

Category

Art / Sculpture

Date

1744 (signed and dated)

Materials

Painted terracotta

Measurements

600 x 320 x 250 mm

Place of origin

England

Order this image

Collection

Stourhead, Wiltshire

NT 732894

Summary

Painted terracotta, modelled from clay, sculpture, Hercules by John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1694 – London 1770), signed Mich. Rysbrack 1744. A full-length statuette (not a mere bozzetto) of Hercules, with crossed legs leaning against rocks on which are the lion skin and club, head turned to left, left hand on hip. He is resting after his eleventh labour and holds the apples of the Heperides in his left hand. It is inspired by the Farnese Hercules but was modelled on 'the various parts and limbs of seven or eight of the strongest and best made men in London, chiefly the bruisers or boxers of the then flourishing amphitheatre of boxing'. The patina contributes to the appeareance of bronze but may not be contemporary with the artist. Left to Henry Hoare in Rysbrack's will, who had ordered a marble version more than life-size for his Temple of Hercules (Pantheon) (1747), built by Henry Flitcroft in 1753/4 in the gardens at Stourhead, three years later but which took the sculptor several years to complete (1756) and was admired by George Vertue, Horace Walpole and others contemporaries.

Provenance

Mentioned by the sculptor's friend, George Vertue (1684 - 1756); bequeathed to Henry Hoare by Rysbrack (1694 - 1770) and thence by desecnt until given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of the contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946

Marks and inscriptions

Mich; Rysbrack 1744 (signed)

Makers and roles

John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770), sculptor

Exhibition history

The Treasure Houses of Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA, 1985 - 1986, no.156

References

Kenworthy-Browne 1983: John Kenworthy-Browne, 'Rysbrack, "Hercules", and Pietro da Cortona', The Burlington Magazine, vol.125, no.961 (April 1983)

View more details