Hercules and Antaeus
by AMMANATI, Bartolomeo, Bronze, height 2 m
In 1559-60 Ammanati successfully cast in bronze the great terminal group of Hercules and Antaeus for Niccolò Tribolo’s Fountain of Hercules on the lowest terrace of the gardens behind Cosimo’s villa of Il Castello; this technical feat had previously defeated Vincenzo Danti on account of the complexity of the composition. The giant Antaeus is represented as being lifted bodily off the ground by Hercules, his head is thrown back in the throes of death, and from his mouth a great spout of water gushes vertically upwards, symbolizing his last gasp of life. The flow of the fountain is thus rationalized by its iconography, and the water splashing down over the figures into the basins below gives an effect of life and movement to the drily mythological composition.