Hercules and Cacus

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G16

Medium

bronze//Medium brown patina

Dimensions

overall (rectangle with arched top): 6.09 × 3.65 cm (2 3/8 × 1 7/16 in.)
gross weight: 42.66 gr (0.094 lb.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1957.14.228

Artists / Makers

Caradosso Foppa (artist) Milanese, c. 1452 - 1526/1527

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Marks and Labels

Reverse formerly bore inventory number 104 in yellow paint (Ricci 1931); painted numerals removed in 1982 cleaning, but chemical “ghost” traces remain visible.

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 1945 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1957 to NGA.

Associated Names

Dreyfus, Gustave
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Bibliography

1878: Piot, Eugène. "Les médailles, les médaillons et les plaquettes de la Renaissance." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 2d ser., 18 (December 1878): 1068 (as in His de la Salle collection).

1908: Migeon, Gaston. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus, V: Les plaquettes." Les Arts 80 (August 1908): 18, repro., as A Battle.

1931: Ricci, Seymour de. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection. Reliefs and Plaquettes. Oxford, 1931: 75, no. 104, pl. 11, as Hercules and Geryon.

1951: Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 148, as Hercules and Geryon.

1965: Pope-Hennessy, John W. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars. London, 1965: 19, no. 52, fig. 73.

1981: Cannata, Pietro. "L'Eneide nelle placchette." In Fagiolo, Marcello, ed. Virgilio nell'arte e nella cultura Europea. Exh. cat. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome, 1981: 238, no. 5, repro.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 98, no. 3.

1993: Meller, Peter. "Bronzetti del Caradosso?" In Shell, Janice and Liana Castelfranchi, eds. Giovanni Antonio Amadeo: Scultura e architettura del suo tempo. Milan, 1993: 539-540, 555 fig. 10.

1997: Brown, Clifford and Sally Hickson. "Caradosso Foppa (ca. 1452–1526/27)." Arte Lombarda 119:1 (1997): 21, 33 color plate 1.

2008: Trevisani, Filippo and Davide Gasparotto, eds. Bonacolsi, l'Antico: uno scultore nella Mantova di Andrea Mantegna e di Isabella d'Este. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Milan, 2008: 90-91, fig. 5.

2012: Rossi, Francesco. "Le placchette come modelli delle botteghe lombarde del Quattrocento: fasi cronologiche e problemi di metodo." Rassegna di studi e di notizie 35 (2012): 35, n. 29.

2013: Leino, Marika. Fashion, Devotion and Contemplation: The Status and Functions of Italian Renaissance Plaquettes. Oxford, 2013: 131-132, 133 fig. 81.