Heracles1.0099_Cibber

Heracles1.0099_Cibber

Farnese Hercules by Goltzius
OGCMA s.v. "Heracles"
Ovid Met. 1.452-567
Homeric Hymn "To Heracles"
Ovid Met. 9.172ff.
Apollodorus Bibl 2.4.8-8.1

Gabriel Cibber, "Hercules Triumphing over Envy", 1695, pediment of East Front at Hampton Court

Christopher Wren designed the East Front and comissioned Cibber for this sculpture

See Davina Thackara and Fran Lloyd (2011) Public Sculpture of Outer South and West London, Public Sculpture of Britain, 13 (University of Liverpool Press),218-20. Cibber uses Cesare Ripa's Iconologia for allegorical subject matter, but Rubens' influence comes in, too. Perhaps the grouping at Hercules' right symbolizes WmIII's conquest over the Roman Church (disputed).

Photo at right is from Thackara & Lloyd.

A detailed grayscale photograph of the pediment and upper facade of a classical building, featuring elaborate sculptural relief carvings.

William III, under whose direction Christopher Wren commissioned this piece, applied Heracles iconography during his regime. Hampton Court, which underwent considerable rennovations under WmIII, bears numerous references to Heracles, cf. the South Front parapets where Hercules stood with Mars, Victory, and Fame.

WmIII's usage here — the king as Hercules — considered inappropriate: "In physique, at any rate, His Majesty was anything but Hercules, and 'Envy' was scarcely an apt emblem under which to personify the feelings of a dethroned monarch [James] towards his usurping nephew and son-in-law, who had ejected him from his kingdom, robbed him of all his possessions, and seated himself in his place. Nevertheless, as a work of art it is admirable."

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.