Marble Statue Of A Bearded Hercules Analysis

Marble statue of a Bearded Hercules

While visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my attention was caught by the Statue of a bearded Hercules. It is unknown who made this sculpture. This Roman copy of the Greek original was made in 68-98 A.D. during the Early Imperial Flavian period from marble and island. The color of the statue is white with a tint of yellow. It is an over-life-sized sculpture - 94.75 inches in height. Without the pedestal, its height is 93.75 inches. The statue looks very realistic. His muscles are carefully refined, especially around the abdominal area and the legs. Knees are the most detailed part of the entire sculpture. It is possible to clearly see the bone in the ankle, the flesh on his feet and the thigh muscles. Unfortunately, his arms are missing, so we just can imagine how much strength could be revealed in his biceps. Hercules’ hair in this sculpture is very detailed - the curls seem to be carved out in a very careful manner. It seems as it has an intention of being realistic, but is stylized in its completion of perfectly round locks Although there is a stump to

The first one out of twelve Hercules’ labors was to kill an invulnerable lion, which terrorized the villagers in the hills around Nemea. After that, he had to bring that lion’s skin to King Eurystheus. That lion’s skin became one of the three most important Hercules’ attributes. A staff from oak, ash or olive tree became a second attribute. Bow and arrows became a third attribute, but very rarely he is depicted with them. Edith Hamilton’s Mythology states “He killed a lion when he was 18 and ever after wore its skin as a cloak.”(228). We can see the Nemean lion’s face on top of Hercules’ head, while the paws are tied up around his shoulders. The artist wanted to make the statue so realistic that he even couldn’t miss the sinuous tendons of the lion’s