Laurent Delvaux (Ghent 1696 - Nivelles 1778), Rome, 1728-1732 The Farnese Hercules Terracotta figure Resting on a fully moulded square base; signed L.D. F. ROMAE and engraved with the signature of the ancient Hercules: Γλyκωn Αθηναίος εποίει (Glykon Athenaios epoiei) Dimensions: 51.8 x 20 x 17.5 cm (20 ½ x 7 ¾ x 6 ¾ in.) Provenance: Estate of Laurent Delvaux: on 2 March 1778, the work devolved by inheritance to Jean-Godefroid Delvaux; Brussels, Laurent Delvaux-de Saive collection; Louis Delvaux-Lauwers collection; Ixelles, Octave Delvaux-de Breyne (Willame) collection; Brussels, Mrs Madeleine Verstraete collection; Then by descent to the current owner. Bibliography: G. Willame, Laurent Delvaux, 1696-1778, Bruxelles-Paris: G. Van Oest et Cie, 1914, p. 57, no. 51. M. Devigne, De la parenté d'inspiration des artistes flamands du XVIIe et du XVIIIe siècle. Laurent Delvaux et ses élèves, Mémoire de l'Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Beaux-Arts, 2e série, II, fasc. 1, 1928, p. 10. A. Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux 1696-1778, Paris, Arthena, 1999, p. 106, fig. 32, p. 246, cat. no. S. 29, p. 206. A terracotta figure of the Farnese Hercules, by Laurent Delvaux (Ghent 1696 - Nivelles 1778), Rome, 1728-1732 Along with his pupil Gilles-Lambert Godecharle, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778) is the Flemish sculptor who best embodies the spirit of the 18th century. He was one of the first Flemish sculptors of his time to leave his native country in search of English patronage. He arrived in London in 1717, aged 21, and soon won commissions for funerary monuments at Westminster Abbey. The 1720s were prosperous, and he worked actively on his own or in collaboration with Peter Scheemakers the Younger (Antwerp 1691-1781), an expatriate for important English art lovers and collectors such as Lord Castlemaine, the Earl of Rockingham, Sir Andrew Fountaine and finally the 4th Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, where the most important private collection of sculptures by Delvaux is now kept. Thanks to Sir Andrew Fountaine's recommendation to the powerful Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini, who would ascend to the pontifical throne in July 1730 as Clement XII, Delvaux had little difficulty entering the Roman artistic milieu. When he arrived in Rome in 1728, he was already an established artist, a sculptor who had fully mastered his art. His intention in travelling to Rome was to study the Antiquities and Baroque statuary. Delvaux stayed in Rome for four years, from 1728 to 1732, staying at the Palazzo Zuccari in Via Gregoriana, now the home of the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max-Planck-Institut). A number of terracottas, some signed or monogrammed in Rome, bear witness to his desire to penetrate the secrets of the emotion that contact with antique marble originals can arouse in an artist sensitive to the classical ideal. These are copies of the Apollino (coll. part.), the Porcellino (loc. inc.) and the Crouching Venus (loc. inc.) housed at the Villa Medici at the time, the Venus maiden with shell (Brussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts), the Hermaphrodite (loc. inc.) and the Eros and Centaur (loc. inc.) belonging to the Borghese Gallery, the Flora (Namur, Groesbeek de Croix Museum) and the Hercules in the Farnese Palace before they were transferred to Naples in the second half of the 18th century. These reduced interpretations in terracotta by Delvaux, particularly the Farnese Hercules, are conscientious studies that attest to his complete mastery of modelling, as well as his dexterity in rendering with finesse and delicacy the smallest details of the original statue, the musculature, the curly hair and the full beard, the lion's skin, right down to the knots in the wood of the heavy club. This figure of Hercules is based on a famous Roman marble dating from the 3rd century AD, currently in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, which itself originated from a bronze sculpture dating from the 4th century BC, probably by the Greek sculptor Lysippus of Sicyone. The Roman sculpture was discovered in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1556 and acquired by Pope Paul III Farnese, hence its name Hercules Farnese. It was exhibited by the Farnese family in the arcades of the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. This antique marble was most likely studied by Delvaux based on small bronze engravings or marble copies during his stay in England, before he observed it in person during his trip to Rome in 1728. His talent as a copyist is also evident here in the rendering of the hero's grave expression. Despite its modest size, this terracotta has not lost the monumental allure of the original statue (Jacobs, 1999, p. 246). However, as an 18th-century artist, Delvaux was able to refine the hero's body and soften its contours. These various sculptures of antiques are also the earliest known terracottas from the sculptor's long career. Delvaux made several versions of Hercules: a life-size marble statue of Hercules Farnese for Lord Castlemaine, made around 1722 in London and now conserved and exhibited at Waddesdon Manor, England; and for the other versions he drew inspiration from the terracotta sculpture here: to make a marble Hercules (mid-18th century, anc. Collection Yves saint Laurent, lot 403, Christie's Paris sale, 25 February 2009), a seated Hercules at rest in marble (Brussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, inv. 6296) and, above all, to design, at the age of over seventy, the monumental statue of the "alchemist" Hercules in Carrara marble, placed at the foot of the Great Staircase in the Palace of Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine in Brussels (1768-1770, in situ). According to Alain Jacobs, the style of this sculpture is very similar to the one at Waddesdon Manor, and is also the one that best expresses the heroic character of Hercules. It is representative of the skill with which Delvaux was able to play between classicism and baroque, as well as his ability to dissociate his model from the antique version in order to offer an original interpretation: notably in the use of the lion's skin, veiling Hercules' intimacy, or the modification of the position of the arms and legs in order to create an idealised composition that is both harmonious and less austere (Jacobs, op. cit., pp. 263-264). Delvaux stripped the subject of its ancient stiffness, governed by canons of proportion and style, and succeeded in offering a natural, lively composition that would define the style of his later years. Delvaux's primary aim in creating these terracotta sculptures in Rome was to build up a stock of working models for the rest of his career in the Netherlands. He kept them in his studio until the end of his life. The Farnese Hercules presented here is of major importance in appreciating the work of the famous 18th-century Flemish sculptor. Its appearance on the art market is a major event for collectors, art lovers and art historians. The sculpture was part of Laurent Delvaux's estate from 2 March 1778, and has been passed down from generation to generation, where it has remained to the present day. We thank Professor Alain Jacobs for his collaboration. We thank Professor Alain Jacobs for his collaboration.