Hercules fighting with the Hydra Ivory, fully... Lot 1458

Hercules fighting with the Hydra Ivory, fully sculptured carving. The base made of ebonized hardwood, with ivory relief. All-face sculpture of the Greek hero, swinging his branch club, his left foot placed on two heads of the monster lying at his feet, his right on its tail. A headband around the curly hair, around the hips the fur of the Nemean lion. The Hydra with dragon's body on four mighty clawed feet, two spread wings, and seven different heads on long, sinuous necks, the mouths wide open, the different tongues stretched out. Around the base a continuous scene around Mercury in the triumphal chariot, the female allegories of virtues and vices. Very minor breaks and losses, e.g. on three fingers of Hercules, the tips of the wings and a tip of the tongue. Sculpture H 30,4, with base H 55,3 cm. Southern Germany or Austria, before 1644, the relief of the base later, end of 17th / 18th century. In 1576 Pope Francesco I ordered six Hercules works in silver for the tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery from Giambologna. The sculptures, none of which are known today, were executed by the court goldsmith Michele Mazzafirri. It was in this context that the first bronzes of Hercules were made. Giambologna's pupil Adriaen de Vries took the subject with him on his way to Prague to Rudolf II. Between 1597 and 1600, together with the foundryman Wolfgang Neidhardt, he realized the Hercules Fountain in Augsburg, today on Maximilianstrasse. The crowning group Hercules Kills the Hydra was published by Augsburg engravers but also by Jan Muller in Amsterdam and was considered a model for numerous later interpretations. The design of this Hercules also follows the composition that de Vries executed after Giambologna: A Hercules standing on and above the Hydra with his club raised wide. Whereas de Vries' Hercules invests much more strength in his decisive blow and expresses his concentration with his head bowed, the Hercules of the unknown sculptor is considerably more relaxed. Almost nonchalantly, he lunges for the final two-handed blow to kill the monster, one of whose heads simultaneously bites his right knee and whose clawed tail pinches his left calf. His pose anticipates the outcome of the action: he is already the victor. The most interesting feature of this sculptural group is the portrayal of the hero. The well-known sculptures after Giambologna and Susini, just like the Hercules by Adriaen de Vries, offer the image of a Greek athlete with pronounced musculature and the idealized head of the gods, mostly oriented towards the Hercules Farnese. This sculptor breaks away from the pretence and shows a more expressive facial expression, emphasised by the wildly curly beard and the hair painstakingly tamed with a ribbon. But let us compare him with Christoph Maucher's Hercules from around 1682 - 95 (SMPK), who wrestles simultaneously with Hydra and the Nemean Lion, their bodies entwined around each other in such a way that they can only be separated visually with difficulty. His concentrated expression with clenched jaws foreshadows the outcome of the fight: Hercules wants to be and will be the victor. This Hercules fights seriously and not playfully. Permoser's fighting Hercules in the collection of the Bode Museum in Berlin also dates from around 1695. Visually, he is still largely of the Farnese type, but the concept of tension in the anatomy, with the brows drawn together in concentration, identifies the piece as a masterful Baroque sculpture. Completely detached from the ideal of Hercules Farnese, with an additionally aged physique, is the Hercules slaying Hydra in the Domherrenhof Graz by Veit Königer, which was erected in 1764 as part of the ensemble. These three representations of the theme are clearly further removed in time from Giambologna's type. Although a precise dating of the presented ivory sculpture in this context is not easy, it must lie between Adriaen de Vries and Christoph Maucher, which has also been confirmed by the C14 analysis. The depiction does not follow the standard academic model. The proportions, the posture and modelling of the body certainly show Mannerist characteristics, but the physiognomy as well as the strong hands and sinewy feet already point to the new later realism. Expert opinion Radiocarbon dating of the University of Cologne - Centre for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dated 8 July 2019 is available. The sculpture's elephantine leg is dated AD 1472 - 1644. Provenance Formerly coll. of the Earls of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, verst. Sotheby Parke Bernet, 18 May 1977, lot 1883. Literature For the Hercules by Adriaen de Vries see cat. Adriaen de Vrie