Hercules and the Nemean Lion

Tuscan milieu Second quarter of the 16th century

This mid-sixteenth-century terracotta group represents Hercules overcoming the Nemean lion, his first of twelve labors. In the eighteenth century, this piece was part of the extensive collection of models curated by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, a Roman sculptor and restorer. Subsequently, it belonged to the Torlonia family and later to the tenor Evan Gorga. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century inventories attributed the work to Baccio Bandinelli and tentatively to Michelangelo, though neither attribution is accepted today. Nonetheless, the artwork can be traced back to the Tuscan school.

 

This mid-sixteenth-century terracotta group represents Hercules overcoming the Nemean lion, his first of twelve labors. In the eighteenth century, this piece was part of the extensive collection of models curated by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, a Roman sculptor and restorer. Subsequently, it belonged to the Torlonia family and later to the tenor Evan Gorga. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century inventories attributed the work to Baccio Bandinelli and tentatively to Michelangelo, though neither attribution is accepted today. Nonetheless, the artwork can be traced back to the Tuscan school.

 

Details of work

Denomination: Hercules and the Nemean Lion Milieu Tuscan milieu Object date: Second quarter of the 16th century Material: Terracotta Technique: Modeling Dimensions: height 54 cm; width 38 cm
Typology: Sculptures Acquisition: 1949 Main inventory number: 13420

Hercules, standing with prominently visible muscles, is engaged in the first of his twelve labors. He is on the verge of overcoming the Nemean lion by inserting his hands into its jaws, which he is about to break. The lion attempts to escape his grip by arching its back and using its front paws to push against Hercules's right leg and left arm, but it is close to being defeated. 
The terracotta group is in a highly fragmented state, rendering it challenging to discern its original form. The base is entirely absent, with only a fragment of a desiccated tree trunk remaining, which ostensibly served to stabilize the protagonist, Hercules. Hercules is missing his right leg above the knee and his left leg from the knee down. His right arm is completely detached, revealing the metal armor used by the sculptor in the pectoral region near the stump, with a piece of iron also protruding from the lion’s back. The left hand, which grips the animal’s jaw, has lost all its fingers; the head is devoid of its skull and is cleaved crosswise from ear to ear at temple level. The lion is similarly damaged: the hind legs are nearly entirely detached, as is the tip of the left front paw. The gaps distort the muzzle to the extent that the hollow interior of the feline is exposed. In addition to these damages, various chips mar the surface of the entire terracotta, and two cracks, visible from the rear, traverse Hercules’ neck and the beast’s body, just below the front right paw. Here, as well as where the mane presses against the demigod’s pelvis and on the stump of the lion’s tail, there are indications of restoration efforts employing plastic material.
This terracotta group was part of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi's collection, assembled in his studio on Via del Babuino in Rome. An inventory of the terracottas was compiled around 1776 when Cavaceppi’s career was still flourishing. Our Hercules Slaying the Lion was documented in the house’s portico, with a precise attribution: “work by Baccio Bandinelli” (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 223, n. 5). In Cavaceppi’s postmortem inventory, created between 1799 and 1800, it was noted that the “model” was already “fragmented” and was “3 palms high” (approximately 67 cm, which is in keeping with this terracotta). The attribution to Bandinelli was discarded, instead suggesting that the group was “believed to be by Michelangelo” (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 236 n. 170). In 1802, Vincenzo Pacetti was tasked with preparing another inventory as part of the acquisition of Cavaceppi’s former collection by the firm led by Pacetti, Giuseppe Valadier, and Marquis Giovanni Torlonia. The work, without any attribution, was assigned serial number 172 (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 283 n. 172), a number still visible in pencil on the rear left paw of the animal. Consequently, the clay group followed the trajectory of Cavaceppi’s notable models, transitioning from the Torlonia Collection to that of tenor Evan Gorga, before ultimately arriving at the National Museum of Palazzo Venezia in 1949.
These documents indicate that the condition of the sculpture had already deteriorated by the end of the eighteenth century. Additionally, it can be inferred that this Hercules and the lion was a companion piece to a Hercules and Antaeus (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 283, n. 173), initially attributed to Bandinelli (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 223, n. 5) and later to the “school of Michelangelo” (Gasparri, Ghiandoni 1993, 235, n. 143). However, identifying Hercules and Antaeus among the terracottas that ended up in Palazzo Venezia is challenging (Casparri 1994, 17–18, 29, n. 90, identified it in sculpture inv. 13394, which, however, is too small (38 x 24 x 18 cm) and also depicts an abduction scene featuring a male and female character). Therefore, it does not seem possible to reunite the pair mentioned in the inventories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Cristiano Giometti (2011) has recently reconsidered the attribution of the work to Bandinelli and has concluded that this identification is merely traditional. Giometti proposed an alternative hypothesis regarding the context and chronology, drawing comparisons with Stefano Maderno’s terracotta of the same subject, currently housed in the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti at the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, which is signed and dated 1621 (inv. Sc. 79). However, I contend that the workmanship of our piece does not align with production in Rome during the first half of the seventeenth century. The stylistic elements indicate that it was likely created in Tuscany during the second quarter of the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, due to the current condition of the piece, a more precise attribution cannot be determined at this time.

Luca Siracusano

Entry published on 12 June 2025

Poor.

In pencil, on the lion’s left hind paw: “172.”

Collezione Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, 1776–1799;
Rome, Collezione Giovanni Torlonia, 1802;
Rome, Collezione Evan Gorga, 1948;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, 1949.

Gasparri Carlo, Ghiandoni Olivia, Lo studio Cavaceppi e le collezioni Torlonia, Roma 1994, («Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte», ser. III, XVI, 1993), pp. 223 nr. 5, 236, nr. 170, 283, nr. 173;
Gasparri Carlo, L’eredità Cavaceppi e le sculture Torlonia, in Carlo Gasparri, Olivia Ghiandoni, Lo studio Cavaceppi e le collezioni Torlonia, Roma 1994, («Rivista dell’Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte», ser. III, XVI, 1993), pp. 1-56, nota 90;
Barberini Maria Giulia, I bozzetti ed i modelli dei secoli XVI-XVIII della collezione di Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, in Maria Giulia Barberini, Carlo Gasparri (a cura di), Bartolomeo Cavaceppi scultore romano (1717-1799), Roma 1994, pp. 115-116, 117-118, cat. 3;
Giometti Cristiano, Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia. IV. Sculture in terracotta, Roma 2011, pp. 24, 36-37, cat. 9.

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