Farnese Hercules

The ancient statue of the Farnese Hercules (Italian: Ercole Farnese) is a copy or version of an older Greek original. This enlarged copy was made for the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (dedicated in 216 AD), where the statue was recovered in 1546, and is now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples. The heroically-scaled Hercules is one of the most famous sculptures of antiquity, and has played a crucial role in the dissemination of knowledge in early modern Europe about Antiquity, classical sculpture and artistic practice. In contrast to other representations of the hero, the figure of Hercules is shown here not in an active, fighting mode but instead in a static contemplative pose, as if resting after his labours.

Farnese Hercules, marble, 3.17 m, artist: Glycon of Athens (inscribed), Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Napels; photographer: Marie-Lan Nguyen; source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herakles_Farnese_MAN_Napoli_Inv6001_n01.jpg,  Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/deed.en.