03 — ARTWORK
Hercules and Cacus
MICHELANGELO Buonarroti · 1525 →
- MEDIUM
- Clay, height 41 cm
- TYPE
- Mythological
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 652 × 1200 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Only a fragment of this outline for a 5 m high colossus remains in existence. The bozzettoStrictly speaking, a small three-dimensional sketch in wax or clay made by a sculptor in preparation for a larger and more finished work. By extension, a rapid sketch in oil, made as a study for a larger picture. represents either Hercules and Cacus or Samson and the Philistines. It was intended for the Piazza della Signoriafrom the late Middle Ages, the governing body of some of the Italian city states, usually presided over by individual families. as a counterpart for the David. The gonfaloniere of Florence, Pietro Soderini, had commissioned the marbleloosely applied to any hard limestone that can be sawn into thin slabs and will take a good polish so that it is suitable for decorative work; more strictly, it refers to metamorphosed limestones whose structure has been recrystallized by heat or pressure. Marbles are widely disseminated and occur in a great variety of colours and patterns, but certain types have been particularly prized by sculptors. The most famous of Greek white marbles in the ancient world was the close-grained Pentelic, which was quarried at Mount Pentelicon in Attica. The Elgin Marbles are carved in Pentelic. Widely used also were the somewhat coarser-grained translucent white marbles from the Aegean islands of Paros and Naxos. Parian marble was used for the celebrated Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The pure white Carrara marble, quarried at Massa, Carrara, and Pietra Santa in Tuscany from the 3rd century BC, is the most famous of all sculptors' stones. It was used for the Apollo Belvedere, and was much favoured in the Renaissance, particularly by Michelangelo, who often visited the quarries to select material for his work. Neoclassical sculptors also favoured Carrara marble because of its ability to take a smooth, sleek surface, but it can look rather 'dead' compared with some of the finest Greek marbles. block, which was never to be completed, in 1508 after Michelangelo angrily cut all ties with Julius II. The artist resumed work on this figure in 1525, as demonstrated by this small outline. Bozzetti such as this have been preserved because in Michelangelo's day, the work preceding the finished product began to be appreciated together with the completed work of art.
When Michelangelo the marble block was given to Baccio Bandinelli when Michelangelo was working on the Medici Chapela small separate place for worship, either part of a large church or a separate building.. From the block Bandinelli produced his <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/b/bandinel/1/hercule.html')" href="/html/b/bandinel/1/hercule.html">Hercules and Cacus</a> which stands now in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-rf708c04f6dc08e,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Hercules and Cacus by MICHELANGELO Buonarroti},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/hercules-and-cacus-rf708c04f6dc08e},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
