after
Giambologna
, Italian, 1529-1608
Title
Hercules with the PillarsDatec.1650
MediumBronze
Dimensions
33.5 cm
Credit LineMilltown Gift, 1902
Object numberNGI.8125
DescriptionAccording to classical legend, to achieve immortality, Hercules was commanded to serve Eurystheus for 12 years. During one of his labours he reached the borders of Europe and Africa and erected two pillars, one on each side of the straits of Gibraltar, since known as the 'Pillars of Hercules'.Some time before 1581, Giambologna made a set of small models on the theme of the 'Twelve Labours of Hercules'. Almost all of these statuettes were lost but, fortunately, bronze copies of them were executed at the request of successive Grand Dukes of Tuscany by some of Giambologna's pupils who inherited his workshop in Florence.
We are not sure of the name of the artist who made the present bronze. Recent scholars have suggested that it could have been Giovanni Battista Piamontini, a successful 18th-century Florentine sculptor who made this and other statuettes probably after casts modelled by Pietro Tacca, a favourite assistant of Giambologna.
The Gallery owns three more examples from the series of 'Hercules' Labours', all of which were purchased by Joseph Leeson, first Earl of Milltown, probably in 1744 or 1745, during his first trip to Italy.
(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)
ProvenancePurchased in Florence by the 1st or 2nd Earl of Milltown; Milltown Gift, 1902Label TextHercules opened the Strait of Gibraltar, as one of his twelve labours, in order to go beyond the known world and capture the oxen of Geryon. He is traditionally shown holding two pillars to symbolise his feat in prising apart two mountains.