Glycon
（
Γλύκων).
1. An Athenian sculptor, known to us by his magnificent colossal marble statue of Heracles, which is commonly called the " Farnese Hercules."
It was found in the baths of Caracalla, and, after adorning the Farnese palace for some time, it was removed, with the other works of art belonging to that palace, to the royal museum at Naples: it represents the hero resting on his club, after one of his labours.
The swollen muscles admirably express repose after severe exertion.
The right hand, which holds the golden apples, is modern: the legs also were restored by Gulielmo della Porta, but the original legs were discovered and replaced in 1787.
The name of the artist is carved on the rock, which forms the main support of the statue; as follows:--
ΓΛΑΥΚΩΝ
ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣ
ΕΠΟΙΕΙ
Though no ancient writer mentions Glycon, there can be no doubt that he lived in the period between Lysippus and the early Roman emperors.
The form of the Omega, in his name, which was not used in inscriptions till shortly before the Christian era, fixes his age more definitely, for there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the inscription.
The silence of Pliny suggests a doubt whether Glycon did not live even later than the reign of Titus.
At all events, it seems clear that the original type of the " Hercules Farnese " was the Heracles of Lysippus, of which there are several other imitations, but none equal to the Farnese. One of the most remarkable is the Hercules of the Pitti palace, inscribed
ΑΥΣΙΠΠΟΥ ΕΡΓΟΝ, but this inscription is without doubt a forgery, though probably an ancient one. (Winckelmann,
Geschichte d. Kunst, b. 10.100.3.18; Meyer,
Kunstgeschichte, vol. iii. pp. 58-61; Müller,
Archäol. d. Kunst, § 129, n. 2.160, n. 5;
Mus. Borbon. vol. iii. pl. 23, 24; Müller,
Denkmäl. d. Alt. Kunst, vol. i. pl. xxxviii.)
The only other remaining work of Glycon is a base in the Biscari museum at Catania, inscribed:
ΓΑΥΚΩΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ
ΙΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ
(Raoul-Rochette,
Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 75.)
