Aesculapius and Hippolytus

Description

This statue, also referred to Caccini as early as the 18th-century sources, stood perhaps in Boboli from its origin, but colocated elsewhere. Already in the Viottolone at that time, it was placed near the statue of Autumn, also in marble by the same artist. In the group, Caccini expressed with elegant and static manner, Aesculapius bringing back to life the young Hippolytus, son of Theseus swallowed by the waves at the behest of Poseidon, whose backward, semi-profiled figure gives life and movement to the whole. A restorer of ancient sculpture, the artist may have had for models statuary examples now vanished, or engravings on glyptics. No examples of similar composition are found in Renaich's repertoire. According to Schmidt this would be a reprise from the 'Menelaus and Patroclus' group restored by Caccini himself. The base of remarkable execution equal to that of 'Prudence,' could be pertinent to the statue, thus indicating the same original provenance for both sculptures