Hercules carrying the World , a sculpture after Annibale Carracci's fresco

This vigorous terracotta was inspired by a fresco created by Annibale Carracci to decorate the ceiling of the Camerino Farnese, a room on the ground floor of the Farnese Palace, now the headquarters of the French Embassy in Rome. The sculptor's genius was to transpose this fresco, probably after an engraving published in 1677, into a lively, high-relief sculpture with a Baroque flavour tempered with Classicism.

1. The camerino Farnese and its decor

Located on the ground floor of the palace, the camerino is a small room for the personal use of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese (1573 - 1626), which could have been used as a study or a bedroom.

The iconographic programme, probably executed by Annibale Carracci between 1595 and 1597, celebrates the supremacy of virtue over vice. The interpretation of this paintings by the Canadian historian John Rupert Martin in two studies published in 1956 and 1965 is still the subject of unanimous agreement.

The choice of the character of Hercules for the cycle alludes to the virtues that the young Odoardo, the new Hercules destined to equal the glories that his father Alessandro had won on the battlefields of Flanders, must possess.

In the centre of the vault, Hercules, having reached the crossroads, is invited to choose between virtue and vice. Two other main scenes featuring Hercules as the protagonist complete this central scene: Hercules carrying the world and Hercules at rest. They illustrate the two fundamental areas of existence in which one shall exercise virtue: the contemplative life and the active life.

2. Hercules carrying the world

Hercules is represented in the centre of the composition, holding the celestial globe on which the symbols of the zodiac are visible. To his left is Ptolemy, representing astronomy with his armillary sphere, and to his right Euclid, representing mathematics with his compass and a tablet.

The scene depicted in the painting originates from the eleventh of Hercules' twelve labours. Hercules must bring back golden apples from the fabulous garden of Atlas, protected by the hundred-headed dragon Ladon. Hercules asks Atlas to pick the fruit for him and Atlas agrees on condition that Hercules in turn carries the sky for him during this time. When he refuses to take his burden back, Hercules has to resort to a ruse: he asks Atlas to lift the sky for a few seconds so that he can place a lion skin cushion; as soon as he is free, he grabs the three golden apples and flees.

Hercules carrying the World can be seen as an allegory of virtue in the context of the contemplative life, symbolised by Atlas, the titan condemned by Jupiter to support the vault of heaven forever. Hercules, symbol of the active life, replaces Atlas and thus enters the contemplative life. This entry brings us an additional strength allowing us to access the knowledge of God.

3. The diffusion of the frescoes through engraving

The decoration of the camerino was publicized by two important series of engravings published during the 17th century. The first, by the Frenchman Nicolas Mignard, printed in 1637, does not include Hercules carrying the World.

It is likely that our terracotta was directly inspired by the engraving published in 1677 by Pietro Aquila (1630 - 1692), which is part of a collection presenting all the Carracci frescoes in the Farnese Palace.

It is interesting to note that the engraving represents the scene in the same direction as the fresco, whereas an engraving is necessarily inverted with respect to the matrix engraved from the preparatory drawing. The simplest explanation is that the artist probably executed his preparatory drawing for the engraving in front of a mirror reflecting the painted ceiling. As the reflection is then reversed in relation to the fresco, the engraving appears once printed to be in the same direction as the fresco.

4. A great technical mastery

The tour de force of this terracotta is to have translated the essentially flat pictorial representation into a high-relief sculpture. While the landscape in the background, the armillary sphere or the decoration of the celestial globe are only sketched in the clay, Ptolemy's right shoulder, Hercules' right knee, head and shoulders, and Euclid's head, right arm and left leg are treated in high relief, bringing additional dramatic tension to the scene by bringing out the musculatures of the various protagonists.

5. Dating and provenance hypotheses

The date of publication of Pietro Aquila's collection of engravings (1677) seems to be the earliest possible date on which this terracotta could have been made. The style of this terracotta is entirely compatible with the French classicism that flourished under Louis XIV. The links between French artists and Italy were strengthened by the foundation of the Académie de France in Rome in 1666 and the most likely hypothesis is therefore that this terracotta was made at the end of the 17ème century by a French (or Flemish) sculptor who had spent time in Rome. It should be noted in this respect that the rather reddish clay of this sculpture is more similar to that used by sculptors in France (and in particular in Toulouse) than to the rather blond clay used by Roman artists.

It is interesting to compare our terracotta with one of the elements of the wooden sculpture made around 1687 by Pierre Vaneau, a sculptor from Le Puy, for the Monument of John III Sobieski. This sculpture, deposited by the Louvre Museum at the Crozatier Museum in Le Puy-en-Velay, is based on the figure of Hercules from the Camerino Farnese, demonstrating the circulation of the engraving of Hercules carrying the world among 17th century sculptors.

6. Framing

Our terracotta is in a perfect state of preservation, which is quite rare for this type of works, which are essentially fragile. It can be presented simply on a pedestal or inserted into a frame: we are also providing a gilded wooden frame in the Louis XIV style which allows the terracotta to be protected while hanging on a wall.