Hercules Farnese

Hercules at rest (Hercules Farnese).

Engraving, with imprint and date at the bottom center: "Ant. Lafrerius Sequanus aeneis formis diligenter espreßit Year ∞ D XII". Signed on the pedestal on the right: "Iacobus Boßius Belga incidit".

Part of the "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae", engraved by the Flemish Jacon Bos for the publisher Lafreri.

Example of the first state of four (cf. Rubach) or first state of five (cf. Alberti, n. 164), before the address of Paolo Graziani, who came into possession of the plate in 1581. There are further known later issues by Pietro de Nobili, and Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi.

Inscribed at the bottom center: "Omnium elegantißimum Herculis signum Gliconis Atheniensis peritißimi artificis manu fabre factu[m]. Quod Paulo iij Pont[ifice] max[imo] in thermarum Antonian[arum] ruderibus inuentum et in domus Farnesianæ ad campum Floræ interior porticu locatum" [Statue of Hercules, the most elegant of all, masterfully carved by the hand of Athenian Gliconis, peritist artist. Found among the ruins of the Antonian baths and transported by Paul III to the Farnese palace in Campo dei Fiori, [it is] placed in the inner portico].

Inscribed on the base of Hercules: [Glicone Ateniese fece].

On the rock on which the club rests, we can read the signature of the Athenian Glicon: "Modern scholars believe that Hercules is an enlarged version, made by Glicon for the Baths of Caracalla at the beginning of the third century AD, of a statue of the same hero produced by Lysippus and his school. In fact the statue was found at the Baths of Caracalla in 1546 under the pontificate of Paul III (1534-1549), was placed together with the other statue of Hercules on the back side of Palazzo Farnese where the two sculptures "symbolized the strength sustained by the virtues". The sculpture was found without the lower limbs that were integrated by Guglielmo della Porta. The original limbs were found in 1560, but were reintegrated only in the eighteenth century when the statue was transferred from Rome to Naples at the behest of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. To please the various European courts, numerous copies of the statue were made: in marble, in bronze, in gilded bronze, in terracotta, from time to time made in scale greater or smaller than the real. (cfr. Marigliani n. V.41).

This print comes from the “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (The Mirror of Roman Magnificence). The Speculum found its origin in the publishing endeavors of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. During their Roman publishing careers, the two foreign publishers - who worked together between 1553 and 1563 - initiated the production of prints recording art works, architecture and city views related to Antique and Modern Rome. The prints could be bought individually by tourists and collectors, but were also purchased in larger groups which were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a title page for this purpose, which is where the title ‘Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae’ first appears. Lafreri envisioned an ideal arrangement of the prints in 7 different categories, but during his lifetime, never appears to have offered one standard, bound set of prints. Instead, clients composed their own selection from the corpus to be bound, or collected a group of prints over time. When Lafreri died, two-third of the existing copper plates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers. The Duchetti appear to have standardized production, offering a more or less uniform version of the Speculum to their clients. The popularity of the prints also inspired other publishers in Rome to make copies however, and to add new prints to the corpus.

Good proof, imprinted on contemporary lais paper, trimmed to the platemark, minimal restorations perfectly performed visible on the reverse side, overall in good state of preservation.

Bibliografia
B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 319, I/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 164, I/V; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. V.41; C. Hülsen, 1921, pp. 153-54, 55, A; S. Massari, 1980, pp. 147-48; F. Haskell - N. Penny, 1984, pp. 458-61; R. Lanciani, 1990, II, p. 196; S. Corsi- P. Ragionieri, 2004, p. 61; S. Sperindei, 2005, p. 140; C. Witcombe, 2008, pp. 159-60; F. Buranelli, 2010, p. 25-26.