Door Knocker with Infant Hercules

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 16

Inventory

PV 09324

Material and technique

Bronze, natural dark green patina, hollowed reverse

Author

Niccolò Roccatagliata (studio)

Dating

Late 16th-early 17th century

Dimensions

24 x 21.4 x 1 cm.

Origin

Barsanti Collection (1934)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

A young Hercules is depicted at the centre of this knocker, recognizable by the club he holds in his left hand. In other versions this attribute is often broken or missing. Hercules has curly hair and a rotund body, which is sparingly covered with bandages. His appearance is similar to the cherubs by Niccolò Roccatagliata that appear on the candlesticks in San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice (1596), and in the relief depicting the Allegory of the Redemption in the San Moisè church (dated to 1636 but executed by Roccatagliata before his death in 1633).

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

L. Pollak, Raccolta Alfredo Barsanti (Trecento-Settecento), catalogue of the collection, Bergamo 1922, no. 97, p. 136, pl. XLIII; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Rome 1954, p. 51.