John Michael Rysbrack, 1694–1770, Flemish, active in Britain (from 1720)
Title:
Hercules
Date:
between 1745 and 1752
Materials & Techniques:
Terracotta
Dimensions:
Overall: 22 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 9 inches (57.2 x 54.6 x 22.9 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.28
Gallery Label:
In the early 1740s, John Michael Rysbrack faced growing competition from other expatriate sculptors such as Peter Scheemakers and Louis François Roubiliac. According to the artist and antiquarian George Vertue, by 1744, Rysbrack found “himself somewhat at leisure, business not being so brisk as had been with him some years before. He therefore set himself about a Model of Hercules.” (A painting of Rysbrack working on the model is shown nearby). The experiment proved successful. In 1747, Henry Hoare, a wealthy landowner and banker, commissioned a six-foot marble version of Rysbrack’s Hercules for the new Pantheon he had erected in his garden at Stourhead, Wiltshire. The marble was completed in 1756, and this bust is a model for the statue’s head and shoulders. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
