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Hercules and the Nemean Lion, ModernoOpen Access image · SMK — National Gallery of Denmark

United KingdomV&A DenmarkSMK GermanyGerman collections NetherlandsRijksmuseum United StatesThe Met United StatesNational Gallery United StatesSmithsonian United StatesCleveland United StatesWalters

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Renaissance · bronze

Hercules and the Nemean Lion

Moderno

Hercules and the Nemean Lion, dated 1498-1502, is catalogued by SMK — National Gallery of Denmark as a work in bronze. The museum attributes the work to Moderno. The recorded dimensions are depth 2.1 cm; diameter 15.8 cm. This factual page is generated from the museum catalogue and links directly to its source record.

Date: 1498-1502
Material: bronze
Scale: depth 2.1 cm; diameter 15.8 cm

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011285–1337

Tino di Camaino

Italian sculptor.

021588–1662

Leonhard Kern

German sculptor (1588–1622).

031703–1777

Walter Pompe

Dutch-Flemish wood master-sculptor (1703-1777).

041870–1942

Enrico Glicenstein

Sculptor (1870-1942).

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c. 3100–30 BCE

Ancient Egypt

Sculpture could give authority and ritual a lasting physical presence. A royal image was more than a likeness: posture, clothing, scale, and inscriptions made the identity of a ruler legible.

c. 1200–400 BCE

Olmec worlds

Olmec makers worked across extraordinary differences of scale, from large volcanic-stone monuments to small greenstone carvings. Materials travelled, and carefully worked objects could carry meanings and histories far beyond their place of manufacture.

c. 850–1279 CE

Chola bronzes

The temple bronzes of Chola-period South India join carefully organised form with religious presence. Images could participate in worship and procession, extending the life of sculpture beyond a fixed architectural setting.

c. 1185–1333 CE

Kamakura portraiture

A portrait of a teacher can preserve a relationship as well as an appearance. This seated image of the Zen master Hottō Enmyō Kokushi brings a named religious figure into a tangible, bodily presence.

Focus: c. 1400–1897

The court of Benin

Brass-casting guild artists made works for the court of Benin, where sculpture articulated kingship, ancestry, and ceremonial relationships. A commemorative head was part of an altar setting rather than an isolated portrait bust.

c. 1600–1750

Baroque encounters

Twisting bodies and interlocking gestures invite a viewer to move around a sculptural group. In the Bernini family’s Bacchanal, the action is distributed across several figures rather than contained in one still pose.

c. 1880–1970

Modern experiments

Rodin’s figures make modelling, gesture, and bodily tension central to the encounter. A bronze can preserve the irregularities of a model rather than conceal them beneath an ideal finish.

c. 1960–present

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