Antonio Canova (copia da), Hercules and Lichas

Patinated bronze on wooden base and later village stone; 57x28x14 cm. This beautiful bronze reproduces a famous sculpture by Antonio Canova, "Hercules and Lichas", now preserved in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, created between 1795 and 1815. The colossal marble shows Hercules struggling furiously in pain due to his tunic soaked in the blood of Nessus, the centaur. Deianira, Hercules' wife, had her servant Lichas give it to him, under the illusion that it was a love potion. Instead, the centaur's blood drove him mad with grief and poor Lichas, held responsible, was thrown far away into the sea, from which the Lycadian Islands originated. Our bronze, of considerable size, is inspired by Canova's sculpture, making some modifications such as, for example, the replacement of the fig leaf with a light veil that covers the nakedness (the tunic of Nessus). Beautifully finished casting with a transparent red-brown patina, it can be dated to the first decades after the original was made, therefore to the first half of the 19th century. Bibl. Fred Licht, Canova, Longanesi&C, Milan, 1984, p.188.