Following Hercules: The Story of Classical Art
Curated by Dr Caroline Vout
Friday 25th September – Sunday 6th December, 2015
In the Octagon Gallery of the Fitzwilliam Museum AND The Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge
Hercules is one of the best loved heroes from ancient Greece. Known in antiquity for completing twelve tasks or ‘labours’ that confirmed his status as a god, Hercules is today tasked with one more - to show visitors to the Fitzwilliam Museum how sculptures made in the Mediterranean millennia ago came to define western art. Hercules inhabits each of the forty objects on display, which range from exquisite miniatures and Renaissance prints, drawings and paintings, to Wedgwood cameos and a giant polystyrene statue. The result is an arresting visual experience of differing scales, styles and material, which gives ongoing meaning to the ‘classical’.
The Museum of Classical Archaeology’s cast of the Farnese Hercules is central to the exhibition’s story and awaits your visit on the Sidgwick Site. Hercules is one of the oldest casts on the site and one of several to have come, via the Fitzwilliam, from the same early nineteenth-century collection in Battersea. Come and meet him, discover more about his story, and more about the cast of characters that accompanied him to Cambridge. In the process you will see why casts of Greek and Roman art remain awesome and relevant.
Please note: the final day of opening in the Museum of Classical Archaeology will be Friday 4th December.
Events
Talk FITZWILLIAM: Wednesday 7th October, 6-8pm: 'The Cutting Edge of Classical Art'
Tours CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Friday 23rd October, 6-9pm: 'Casts by Candlelight'
Families CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Wednesday 28th October, 1-4pm: 'Following in the Footsteps of Hercules'
Talk FITZWILLIAM: Friday 30th October, 1.15-2pm: 'Hercules: The Thinking Person's Superhero'
Talk FITZWILLIAM: Wednesday 4th November, 1.15-2pm: 'Hercules and the Aesthetics of Exhaustion'
Talk CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Thursday 12th November, 6.30-7.30pm: 'In the Thrall of the Antique: Plaster Casts and their Viewers'
Talk FITZWILLIAM: Wednesday 18th November, 6-8pm: 'Collecting the Antique'
PanelCLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Friday 20th November, 6.30-8pm: 'Victorian Visions of Greece and Rome: A Panel Discussion'
Find out more
Following Hercules at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Museum Highlight: the Farnese Hercules
Caroline Vout's faculty webpage
