Probably Italy, second half of the 18th century, after the antique Hercules Farnese Bronze sculpture with brown patina representing one of the twelve labours of Hercules. He is leaning against the skin of the Nemean lion, which is resting against his club on a rock. This sculpture is based on a model by Glycon of Athens dating from the 3rd century and kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Height 33 cmReference : F. Haskell, N. Penny, For the Love of Antiquity. Greco-Roman Statuary and European Taste 1500-1800, London 1988, p. 249, no. 116. The gigantic marble Antique Hercules was first mentioned in 1556 in the Farnese Palace; the head was found six years later and added. The marble remained in the courtyard of the palazzo until 1787, when it was transferred to the National Museum of Naples, where it can still be seen today. The first bronze reductions date from the end of the sixteenth century, executed in gilded bronze by Pietro da Barga (Metropolitan Museum, NY). It was particularly during the eighteenth century that it became popular on the Grand Tour, and the Roman founders Giacomo and Giovanni Zoffoli, as well as Francesco Righetti (1749-1815), produced small bronze reductions of excellent quality.