A sculpted sandstone torso of Hercules, attributed to the studio of Balthasar Permoser, (German 1651 ~ 1732), portrayed with pronounced musculature, truncated at the neck, upper arms, right leg and left leg below the knee, 110cm high, 65cm wide; later mounted on a black painted metal rod above a stepped metal base, 176cm high overall It is rare that a torso inspired by antiquity can be attributed to a specific artist or his studio. In this case the provenance, the type of stone used, the portrayal of the musculature and anatomy and the skilled execution, all point in the direction of Bathasar Permoser and his studio Permoser was employed as a court sculptor to Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, in the adornment and embellishment of the magnificent Zwinger Palace complex in Dresden, ultimately becoming one of the most influential German sculptors of the Baroque period. T he sculptor's original compositions of mythological and allegorical figures in sandstone were given a prominent place in the gardens there, and d uring this time the sculptor came to dictate the development of taste in garden sculpture in Saxony and the surrounding states -whilst his studio produced copies of the designs for the gardens of the nobility in the periphery. In this way an entire scheme of garden sculpture was inspired and created in Permoser's vision, at estates in Schwerin, Berlin, Königswartha and at other locations . Sad ly, the wars throughout the next three centuries in this region, as well as certain policies of the government of the post World War II German Democratic Republic lead to the loss and destruction of much of this wealth , and works by Permoser are now rarities The present work was almost certainly inspired by the famed Farnese Hercules, now held at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, but previously in the personal collection of the Farnese family where Permoser visited, admired and sketched it. As with the version in Naples a succesful contrapposto was created by portraying the figure as leaning against a tree trunk, against which his club rests and upon which the skin of the Nemean lion is draped. This gives an elegant curvature of the torso and allowed the sculptor the opportunity to display his skills in anatomical rendering, to both the front and the back of the figure However, there are also clear differences between the Roman statue and the current torso. The version offered here is certainly slimmer, the position of the right hand differs, and the drapery is not only richer and more complex, but also subtly covers -with the paw of the lion, the hero's loins. This feature can be seen in Permoser's huge and symbolic Hercules Saxonicus at the Zwinger in Dresden, the armed Hercules at the Bode Museum in Berlin, and also in a Dancing Bacchante, which could be seen until 1950 in the gardens of Schloss Friedrichsfelde. This latter figure is comparable in anatomy, the movement in the torso -the smooth and well-studied bone and muscle structure, and in the naturalistic treatment of the navel and nipples. Furthermore the lion's skin is playfully draped over the right wrist so the sculptor could make a clear contrast between the furry exterior and the smooth interior of the pelt. This contrast and the deep, rounded folds caused by the turning of the lion pelt are typical of the treatment of draperies by Permoser and his co-workers. Two more or less similar torsos by Permoser apparently survived, rediscovered in the grounds of the run-down Schloss Friedrichsfelde near Berlin in the early 20th century. Sadly however, these have been missing since 1938 and their location remains unknown Comparative Literature: W. Boeck, Unbekannte Sandsteinfiguren von Balthasar Permoser, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 5, 1938, pp. 28f S. Asche, Balthasar Permoser. Leben und Werk, Berlijn, 1978 A. Nielsen en J. Bäumel, Balthasar Permoser hats gemacht. Der Hofbildhauer in Sachsen, cat. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, 2001