Hercules Pomarius

Between 1545 and 1565 Van Tetrode trained with the Italian Mannerist sculptors Benvenuto Cellini and Bartolommeo Ammanati in Florence and Guglielmo della Porta in Rome. In Florence he made several bronze statuettes after the antique that entered the collections of Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. The Hercules Pomarius is a reflection of the famous classical Farnese Hercules. Like Michelangelo, Tetrode concentrated on male figures, and he provided them with strikingly varied but always taut and rippling torsos. They convey a heroic sense of movement and force, even when standing still. When they are not, these torsos support impressive feats of agility, violence and strength, both athletic and artistic.