-
1 of 253523 objects
Hercules and Acheloüs 1824-29
Bronze, granite | RCIN 71768
-
A colossal bronze group of Hercules fighting Acheloüs in the form of a snake. Hercules is nude and wears a garland of oak leaves on his head. The serpent is coiled around his legs and a central tree stump which is draped with a lion pelt, the lion's head lying on the ground to Hercules's right. On a later (1909) Aberdeen granite plinth of oblong shape with expressed sides.
Hercules and Achelous were suitors to Deianira, daughter of the river god Oeneous. Ovid relates how, as they struggled, Achelous kept changing form from a bull to a snake. Bosio has chosen his metamorphosis as a serpent for this representation. The taste for this colossal action-hero statue was encouraged by commissions to Canova during the Napoleonic occupation of Italy.Provenance
Cast by Charles Crozetier (as was the original) using recycled cannons; its intended location is unknown. Sold to George IV by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell for £1,260 in 1829. On the North Terrace at Windsor Castle by 1860 (see photograph by Roger Fenton RCIN 2100056). Moved to the centre of the East Terrace garden pond, 1909, for which the Aberdeen granite plinth was designed by Windsor's Clerk of Works, Arthur Young Nutt. Sent to Hampton Court Palace in 1957 with the intention of placing it in the Privy Garden, but funds were not forthcoming to install it. At the request of the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, it was moved to the centre of the pond adjacent to the Palm House in Kew in 1963.
A plaster of this subject was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1814. A marble was proposed by the comte de Forbin, Director of Museums for the restored monarchy, in 1821, but on the day of its delivery, 24 April 1822, Bosio asked that it be made in bronze since a fault had been found in the marble. The bronze was commissioned on 15 May for 45 000 francs. In August 1824 it was exhibited at the Paris Salon. In August 1828 it was placed in front of the Tuileries palace. In 1865 it was moved to the far end of the north avenue, the allee des Orangers. In 1992 it was brought inside the Louvre in whose collection it remains (museum no LL 325).
-
Creator(s)
(retailer/maker)(founder (metals))Acquirer(s)
-
Medium and techniques
Bronze, granite
Category
Object type(s)
Place of Production
Paris [Île-de-France]
