Marble Statue Of A Bearded Hercules

The Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features a magnificent marble statue of a bearded Hercules (Roman, Flavian period, A.D. 68-98. The statue and the over-life-sized statue of young Hercules 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 are probably originated in images of the Greek hero Herakles dating to the fourth century B.C. They were part of the large collection of ancient sculpture made in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century by a wealthy Genoese banker, the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani. (from the gallery caption).