Hércules Farnesio (Ercole Farnese) de Glykon

The figure of Heracles, the Greek hero, personified the triumph of man's courage and bravery over the series of trials imposed on him by the jealous gods. He, the son of Zeus, had been granted the gift of immortality. In the classical period, his role as the savior of mankind had been accentuated, but he also possessed such mortal defects as lust and greed.

Lyssippus' interpretation of the hero was intended to reflect these aspects of his mortal nature and gave him a portrait that served as a model for the rest of antiquity and fixed the image of Hercules in the European imagination.

The statue of Hercules Farnese depicts the weary hero at the end of his work, resting on his mace. On the mace is the skin of the Lion of Nemea, killed by Heracles in one of his works. With his right hand behind his back, the hero holds the golden apples of the garden of Hesperides, which assure him of eternal life. But in the figure, the weariness of man is represented. The massive musculature gives the impression of exhausted power.