catalog text
GRAND TOUR
Italy, 19th century
Hercules Subduing the Stag Cerynitis
Sand-cast and patinated bronze | signed to the base "Fond = Amodio Napoli" | cast circa late 19th to early 20th century
Item # 405PZA17S
This remarkable Grand Tour work captures the labor of Hercules subduing Cerynitis, the stag of Artemis, while bound by the task of Eurystheus. After pursuing the powerful creature for a year, Hercules disabled Cerynitis while the hind was drinking along the rivers edge. After binding Cerynitis’ wound, Hercules set off to return the stag to the court of King Eurystheus and along the way is met by Artemis and Apollo. He begs her forgiveness and she relents and allows him to carry Cerynitis alive to the court.
Cast with inordinate fidelity by the Amodio foundry in Naples, the sculpture is very large and most substantial. Anatomically exact, muscular male figure levers his knee against the stag lending almost all of his weight into the creature while dragging back on his antlers, wrestling the stag with intense realism.
The model is finished in a nuanced gilding over copper over bronze now worn to reveal the brilliant variety of hues that have developed in the surface throughout: rich browns, reds, copper tones and intense discolorations that have become a natural patination, taking over where the foundry left off.
The figures wrestle over an intricate octagonal naturalistic base of rocky ground and variated fauna with a straight rim. Along the back edge is engraved in neat scripting “Fond = Amodio Napoli” and is monogrammed
Measurements: 25 1/4" H x 26 3/4" W x 11" D
Condition Report:
Worn and discolored surface patination with much of the original gilding retained, rubbing through to reveal underlayers throughout; foundry casting blemishes and joint seams visible, which likely would have been disguised originally by the gilt layer; some touch-ups to patina (spots along edge of base, the resting leg of the stag); bolts securing figures to base replaced; cleaned and sealed in conservator's grade wax, a very powerful presentation.