Circle of Francesco Bertos (1678-1741)

Since Charles Avery’s monographic study on Francesco Bertos (op. cit.) the idiosyncratic style of this 18th-century Venetian sculptor has become more identifiable and appreciated. Avery identified over 200 models by Bertos. Whilst these do not include the present bronze of Hercules and Cacus, the group is stylistically coherent in facial types, in the spindly anatomy and in the exaggerated frozen motion of the protagonists with Bertos’s oeuvre. Similarly, the iconography of Bertos’s subjects are often original, even obscure, and here the interpretation of Hercules with a long beard, indicating an older man, is unusual. It has been suggested that such peculiarities in the details were intended to provide esoteric discussion points for his patrons.

RELATED LITERATURE

C. Avery, The Triumph of Motion: Francesco Bertos (1678-1741) and the Art of Sculpture. Catalogue Raisonée, Turin, 2008