id: 133100 accession number: 1955.50 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.50 updated: 2022-05-10 09:00:44.813000 Herakles Epitrapezios (Hercules of the Table), AD 1-100. Italy, Roman, (Alexandrian?), 1st Century. Marble; overall: 43.2 cm (17 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.50 title: Herakles Epitrapezios (Hercules of the Table) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: AD 1-100 creation date earliest: 1 creation date latest: 100 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Roman, (Alexandrian?), 1st Century technique: marble department: Greek and Roman Art collection: GR - Roman type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 43.2 cm (17 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: The sculptor carved Herakles and his rocky seat (covered with his lionskin) from separate marble pieces. digital description: The Roman poets Martial and Statius mention a bronze statuette made by the master Greek sculptor Lysippos (active c. 360s-310s BC). It depicted the Greek hero Herakles seated on a rock with a drinking cup and was created for Alexander the Great, who claimed Herakles as an ancestor and carried the sculpture with him on his military campaigns. Later, the work was said to have been acquired by Hannibal, Sulla, and the famed Roman art collector Novius Vindex. The statuette is called epitrapezios (on the table) either because it was designed to be displayed on a tabletop or because it shows Herakles seated, as at a table. Later sculptors made many more versions, including this one, to meet the demand of Roman collectors enamored with Greek art. wall description: The Roman poets Martial and Statius mention a bronze statuette made by the master Greek sculptor Lysippos. It depicted the Greek hero Herakles seated on a large rock and holding a drinking cup and was created for Alexander the Great, who carried it with him on his military campaigns; Alexander and his father, Philip, claimed Herakles as an ancestor. Later the work was acquired by the highly respected Roman art collector Novius Vindex. The statuette is called epitrapezios (on the table) because it was designed to be displayed on a tabletop. Many copies were made to meet the demand of Roman collectors, who revered classical Greek art as a singular standard of excellence. The Cleveland version is a high-quality Roman marble copy. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Ridgway, B.S. " Roman Bronze Statuary--Beyond Technology," in C.C. Mattusch, (ed.), The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996. page number: P. 132, Fig. 9. url: Visscher, Fernand de. Heracles Epitrapezios. Paris: E.de Broccard, 1962. page number: P. 61, pl. XIV, fig. 4. url: Bartman, Elizabeth. "Lysippos' Huge God in Small Shape." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 7 (1986): 298-311. page number: Figs. 1-4. url: www.jstor.org/stable/25159951. Bartman, Elizabeth. Ancient Sculptural Copies in Miniature. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992. page number: Pp. 157-173; cat. 3, Figs. 86-87. url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 33 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n21 Cleveland Museum of Art. Sketchbook: Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. Cleveland Museum of Art; Cleveland, Ohio, 2019. page number: Reproduced: P. 8 url: Merrill, Larry, Kathleen Wakefield, and Archie Rand. An Accumulation of Silence. 2021, 8. page number: Reproduced: p. 8 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.50/1955.50_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.50/1955.50_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.50/1955.50_full.tif