Until recently, this small bronze was attributed to Antonio Pollaiuolo. A much more convincing recent attribution, however, is to Giovanfrancesco Rustici, one of the most important Florentine sculptors of the first half of the sixteenth century.

Hercules flings his attribute, the lion’s pelt, over his shoulder and with assurance props his left foot on a horned skull. Especially in Florence, Hercules was a charged political symbol, representing virtuous strength triumphing over tyranny. The unusually high pedestal might indicate that this statuette is related to a larger public sculpture. Around 1515, the Medici family commissioned Rustici to make a bronze statue for their palace, which he never completed. It’s possible that this statuette is what remains of that commission.