Hercules and Lichas by Antonio Canova

Hercules and Lichas
1795-1815
Sculpture
Marble
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy

“Hercules and Lichas” was a sculpture that was developed over an extended period due to its size – it stands at just under eleven feet tall – and the turbulent times in which it was made. Commissioned by Onorrato Gaetani, a Neapolitan nobleman, from Canova, Gaetani also proposed the subject be drawn from Greek mythology. Hercules sent his herald Lichas to fetch him a cloak. His wife had dipped it in a magical fluid with the intent of keeping Hercules faithful. Instead, it poisoned him, and driven mad by anger and pain he flung Lichas into the sea.

Antonio Canova
Neoclassicism, Romanticism
Born: 1 November 1757, Veneto, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Died: 13 October 1822, Venice, Italy

Canova was a Neoclassical sculptor, particularly known for his marble sculptures. His sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival; however, he avoided the melodramatics of Baroque and the cold artificiality of the Classical revival