Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion (Romanelli)
Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion is a bronze sculpture located in the Piazza Ognissanti, overlooking the River Arno in Florence, Italy.
History and description[edit]
The first bronze statuettes on this subject were completed and exhibited by the Florentine sculptor Romano Romanelli in 1906–1910.[1] Romanelli became a prominent sculptor for the Fascist administration of Benito Mussolini. In 1930, the Fascist authorities removed the statue of the Venetian-Italian patriot Daniele Manin from the center of this piazza, where it had been placed, and installed it in the suburbs of Arcetri. In its place, the Jewish-Italian patron Angiolo Orvieto commissioned this sculpture,[2] placed here in 1937 after display at the exhibition of the Quadriennale d'Arte Nazionale in Rome.[3] A casting of this sculpture was also exhibited in Berlin in 1937, where it was prominently placed at the entrance of the exhibition alongside a photograph of Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ Encyclopedia Treccani, Enciclopedia Italiana (1936) by Mario Tinti.
- ^ The Florentine, article on Hercules and the lion, by Deirdre Pirro (issue no. 178/2013 / February 28, 2013)
- ^ II Quadriennale d'Arte Nazionale al palazzo delle Esposizioni di Roma
- ^ Italian wikipedia: Mostra di arte italiana dal 1800 a oggi.