Images(5)

Statue of Hercules

Artist Unknown

DateLate 18th century

MediumMarble

Dimensions66 3/4 x 33 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (169.5 x 85.1 x 67.3 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky

Object numberGL.55.11.2

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated in Rome, late 18th century [1]. Sold to Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1813), Margam Castle, Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, Wales; by descent to granddaughter Emily Charlotte Talbot (1840–1918), Margam Castle; Talbot Estate, 1918–41; [Talbot Sale, Christie’s, London, October 29, 1941, no. 449, as A Statue of the Drunken Herakles]; [Blumka Gallery, New York] [2]; Jack L. and Belle Linsky, New York; given to NCMA, 1955.
[1] Reportedly excavated in Roman Forum by Gavin Hamilton and Thomas Jenkins, 1771; however, extensive research indicates the statue is not ancient. Report by Mark Abbe, forthcoming.
[2] Per old NCMA data record and Bier letter in file.
Published ReferencesAdolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, trans. by C. A. M. Fennel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1882), 517-18, no. 4 (as Statue of the drunken Herakles).

Christie, Manson, & Woods. Pictures by Old Masters: Modern Pictures and Drawings and Ancient Marbles (Auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson, & Woods, October 29, 1941), on the premises of Margam Castle Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, lot no. 449, p. 29, as A Statue of the Drunken Herakles.

C. C. Vermeule, AJA 59 (1955), 143; ibid. 63 (1959), 337, illus. pl. 78, fig. 14.

W. R. Valentiner, "Opening of Four New Galleries of Early Sculpture and Decorative Arts," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Summer 1957), noted 21.

May Davis Hill, "Checklist of Additional Sculptures in the North Carolina Museum of Art," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 2, no. 1 (Summer 1958), listed and illus. (b-w) 31.

"Added: One Fig Leaf," The News and Observer, Raleigh (July 28, 1957).

Cornelius C. Vermuele, Greek and Roman Sculpture in America:

Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), illus. 209.

Carlo Pietrangeli, "The Discovery of Classical Art in Eighteenth-Century Rome," Apollo 117 (May 1983), 386.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 59.

Denys Sutton, "The Lure of the Antique," Apollo 118 (May 1984), 319, illus. 318.

Saints and Heroes (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1987), discussed and illus. (b-w) 4. (Catalogue only, not in exhibition.)

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 30.

Maria Luisa Catoni, "Quale arte per il tempo di Platone?" I Greci: Storia Cultura Arte Società, 2. Una storia greca, 2, Definizione (Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1997), illus. 1056, fig. 16..

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Herakles, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 36, illus. (color).

Ken Smith, "As I See It," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (March/April 1999), 28.

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Herakles, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 74, illus. (color) 75.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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