This remarkable sculpture of the Greek hero Herakles is one of J. Paul Getty’s most prized possessions and inspired him to build this Museum in the style of an ancient Roman villa. The statue, representing the Greek hero Herakles with his lion skin and club, was discovered in 1790 near the villa of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (ruled A.D. 117-138) at Tivoli, Italy, It was purchased in 1792 by an English collector, the Marquess of Lansdowne, to become part of his extensive private collection of ancient sculpture.
Greek sculptors sought an ideal for representing the human body. Studying actual human beings closely and selecting those attributes they considered most desirable, such as regular facial features, smooth skin, and particular body proportions. …show more content…
The artist sculpted Herakles with diagonally counterbalanced relationships between weight-bearing and relaxed legs and arms around a central axis. The left leg is bent at the knee, with the left foot poised on the ball of the foot, suggesting the weight shift of proceeding and succeeding movement. The slight turn of his head invites the spectator to follow his gaze and move around the figure, admiring his authority and overwhelming presence.
The Greek hero Herakles carries a club over his left shoulder and holds a lion skin in his right hand. These objects help identify the figure, since Herakles nearly always appears with a club and the skin of the Nemean Lion, which he killed as his first labor. As is typical for depictions of Greek heroes, the young Herakles is shown nude, since the Greeks considered male nudity to be the highest form of beauty. No other god or hero is as frequently depicted in Greek and Roman art as is Herakles.
Shortly after its discovery, the statue was reworked in Rome, probably by Carlo Albacini, a prominent restorer. A spirit of purism caused it to be stripped of its restorations in the 1970s, but these historical additions were reintegrated in the 1990s to present the work as it appeared in the eighteenth …show more content…
The three statues in this gallery were unearthed in and around Rome in the 1600s and 1700s, when both collectors and dealers strongly endorsed the complete restoration of fragmentary figures. The aesthetic ideas and artistic talents of restorers greatly influenced the appearance of restored statues. Restoration usually involved reworking broken surfaces and replacing missing pieces, sometimes with fragments from other marbles figures. Enthusiasm for the practice began to lessen only after sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens were brought to England in the early 1800s, since no artist felt worthy to improve them. Collecting sculpture has been a pursuit of wealthy individuals for thousands of years. Ancient Romans, such as the statesman and writer Cicero, filled their villas with works brought from Greece as well as contemporary commissions, which were often modeled after Greek
Greek sculptors sought an ideal for representing the human body. Studying actual human beings closely and selecting those attributes they considered most desirable, such as regular facial features, smooth skin, and particular body proportions. …show more content…
The artist sculpted Herakles with diagonally counterbalanced relationships between weight-bearing and relaxed legs and arms around a central axis. The left leg is bent at the knee, with the left foot poised on the ball of the foot, suggesting the weight shift of proceeding and succeeding movement. The slight turn of his head invites the spectator to follow his gaze and move around the figure, admiring his authority and overwhelming presence.
The Greek hero Herakles carries a club over his left shoulder and holds a lion skin in his right hand. These objects help identify the figure, since Herakles nearly always appears with a club and the skin of the Nemean Lion, which he killed as his first labor. As is typical for depictions of Greek heroes, the young Herakles is shown nude, since the Greeks considered male nudity to be the highest form of beauty. No other god or hero is as frequently depicted in Greek and Roman art as is Herakles.
Shortly after its discovery, the statue was reworked in Rome, probably by Carlo Albacini, a prominent restorer. A spirit of purism caused it to be stripped of its restorations in the 1970s, but these historical additions were reintegrated in the 1990s to present the work as it appeared in the eighteenth …show more content…
The three statues in this gallery were unearthed in and around Rome in the 1600s and 1700s, when both collectors and dealers strongly endorsed the complete restoration of fragmentary figures. The aesthetic ideas and artistic talents of restorers greatly influenced the appearance of restored statues. Restoration usually involved reworking broken surfaces and replacing missing pieces, sometimes with fragments from other marbles figures. Enthusiasm for the practice began to lessen only after sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens were brought to England in the early 1800s, since no artist felt worthy to improve them. Collecting sculpture has been a pursuit of wealthy individuals for thousands of years. Ancient Romans, such as the statesman and writer Cicero, filled their villas with works brought from Greece as well as contemporary commissions, which were often modeled after Greek