After Stefano Maderno, 'Hercules and Antaeus', possibly 19th century

This bronze statue shows the Roman god and hero Hercules fighting the giant Antaeus in one of his ‘Twelve Labours'. Antaeus could not be killed while he remained in contact with his mother, the Earth. Hercules, who was famous for his strength, was able to lift the giant and crush him to death.

The statue may have been produced in Venice, most likely in the nineteenth century. It was assembled from several units that were made separately and is based upon a terracotta model of approximately the same size, which was then in the Accademia in Venice but is now in the Ca d’Oro, also in Venice. This model is signed S.M. and is the work of Stefano Maderno.

Maderno was a sculptor from Lombardy in northern Italy, whose work reflects the transition from Mannerism to the Baroque. He achieved considerable fame in Rome in the early seventeenth century, most notably for his naturalistic statue of Saint Cecilia made around 1600 for the church of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also produced a number of small terracotta models, bronzes and marbles based upon antique models, many of which depict the Labours of Hercules.