AN 18TH CENTURY CARVED LIMESTONE FIGURE OF THE WEARY HERCULES OF LYSIPPOS, AFTER THE ANTIQUE
the standing figure leaning against his club and a tree stump draped with the skin of the Nemean lion, on an integral rectangular base,
70cm high

The Greek sculptor Lysippos created the original bronze, life-size or larger statue of the Weary Hercules leaning on his club after supporting the heavens on his shoulders. The bronze statue was made around the time that Alexander the Great died, and early in the Hellenistic period a version was made for Athens. A Roman copy of the Greek original was found in the 16th century and subsequently moved to the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.