Hercules at Rest, 2nd-3rd century AD, Marble from Saint-Béat (Haute-Garonne), a statuary after the Antique, a 4th century BC, a bronze sculpture created the Greek sculptor Lysippos, which did depict Hercules at rest. That original was immensely successful, as evidenced by the numerous copies and derivatives from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Lysippos sculpted Herakles resting, having completed all the Labors commanded by his cousin and rival, Eurystheus. He leans on the club carved from olive wood, covered with the skin of the Nemean lion. In his right hand, held behind his back, he holds the golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides, offered to Hera in honour of her having marred Zeus, which Hercules had to bring back from the far West, the realm of the setting sun and death, to the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
The 16th to 18th century Roman variations are well known, as they all were derived from the monumental sculpture--nearly three meters high- example from the Farnese collection, discovered in Rome in 1546 in the Baths of Caracalla, which was sent to Naples in 1787. The version discovered in the villa of Chiragan could well correspond to the second of the three types distinguished by P. Moreno: the lion skin may be more prominent here, the inclination of the head, unfortunately missing in our example, would be more pronounced than in other types, and the muscular mass less exaggerated than in Naples or Florence (Pitti Palace) where, unlike the Chiragan variant, the left leg extends in front of the right, the feet thus aligning. The position of the right leg alone, outstretched, in the Toulouse marble statue, therefore brings it much closer to the Heracles at Rest, discovered in Foligno, which example is now in the Louvre Museum.
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