Ancient Roman Statuary in the Metropolitan Museum of New York: ERCOLE GIUSTINIANI (Gift of Frederick F. Thompson, 1903).

Speranza

Marble statue of a bearded ERCOLE
Period: Early Imperial, Flavian
Date: A.D. 68–98
Culture: Roman
Medium: Marble, Island
Dimensions:
H. 238.20 cm.
Classification: Stone Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson, 1903
Accession Number: 03.12.14
This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 162

Restorations made during the early 17th century include both legs, the plinth, the support at the left leg, pieces in the lion’s skin.

The arms were also restored but have been removed.

Roman copy of Greek original

This ERCOLE and the over-life-sized statue of ERCOLE across the courtyard in all probability were made as a pair to decorate one of the great spaces in a large public bath.

Although they are much restored, their stance and attributes are essentially correct and are variants on long-established statue types that probably originated in images of the hero ERCOLE dating to the fourth century B.C.

They were part of the large collection of ancient sculpture assembled in Rome at the beginning of the seventeenth century by a wealthy Genoese banker, the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani.
*******

References:

Fusconi, G., ed. 2001. I Giustiniani e l'Antico.
Rome: ERMA di Bretschneider, no. 5, pp. 189-92, pl. 5a.

Picon, C. A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 452, pp. 387, 494.