Head of the Farnese Hercules
Italian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
Unknown
Materials
Marble
Measurements
86 x 53 cm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 852234
Summary
Sculpture, white marble, on white marble socle, Head of the Farnese Hercules (after the Antique), Italian School Bust of Hercules. Copy after the antique original in Naples and the Borghese collection. On yellow scagliola pedestal - ICK/SC/89. The statue was first recorded in 1556 when it was in the Palazzo Farnese by Aldrovandi who said it had been found in the Baths of Caracalla in 1546. The head had been apparently found six years before the body in a well in Trastevere in Rome. The enormous statue was displayed as a whole in the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese until 1787 when it was taken to Naples for restoration and by 1792 was taken to the museum there.
Provenance
Part of the Bristol Collection. Acquired by the National Trust in 1956 under the auspices of the National Land Fund, later the National Heritage Memorial Fund.
Makers and roles
Italian School, sculptor
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, no. 46, fig. 118