Author: Lysippos
Period: IV century B.C.
The original masterpiece is now conserved in the Naples National Archeological Museum.
The statue is so called Farnese Hercules because it belonged to the Farnese Family, a very important and wealthy family from Rome from which a dynasty of popes were born. One of the most important Popes from the Farnese Family was indeed Alessandro Farnese, subsequently named Pope Paolo III (1534 – 1549), who started building the Farnese Palace, Palazzo Farnese, in Rome, inside which he hosted many pieces of sculpture that contributed to the birth of what nowadays is called the Farnese Collection.
With precise reference to the Farnese Hercules, the monumental piece of marble was discovered in 1546 during the excavations of the Baths of Caracalla, which where sponsored by Pope Paolo III. The Baths of Caracalla are the most spectacular and well-preserved examples of imperial thermae surviving nowadays, the most tangible proof of the magnificence of the Roman Empire.
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