Six Greek sculptors / by Ernest A. Gardner.

  • Ernest Arthur Gardner
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Six Greek sculptors / by Ernest A. Gardner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    find in the figure of the goddess in other copies of the group. There were, as we have seen, at least three statues of Heracles in the list of his works ; and this fact seems to justify us in connecting with him a statuette of Heracles which evidently shows affinity with his style. This statuette, as was to be expected from its subject, shows a heavier and more massive type of figure than the Discobolus; but the clear and dry rendering of the muscles is similar, and also the close-set curls of hair and beard, which, however, stand out rather more strongly from the head. This is quite in accordance with the rendering of Heracles in Attic vases; the close-set, projecting curls are almost a typical adjunct of great physical strength. But the outline of both hair and beard is strictly defined. The position and general character of the work are re¬ markable. The hero is represented at rest, his right hand leaning on his club, his lion-skin on his left arm : his pose, especially the gentle inclination of his head towards the left, suggests something of weariness. The type of the weary Heracles, the hero overwhelmed with his labours, is a common one in later art, and is especially associated with Lysippus. It is most interesting to find an anticipation of it in a work which must be about a century and a half earlier, and which suggests associa¬ tion with Myron. The connection is confirmed by a
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