Hermann Volz(1847 Karlsruhe - 1914 ibid.), Naked warrior with short sword
, c. 1935. Partially (?) patinated bronze with cast plinth mounted on a black marble base (6.8 cm high). 32.5 cm (total height) x 12 cm (width) x 7 cm (depth), weight 3.7 kg. Signed “H.[ermann] Volz” on the plinth.
- Patina rubbed, visible casting seam on the left arm, otherwise in excellent condition for its age.
- The New Hercules -
Despite its relatively small size, the warrior appears monumental. Hermann Volz based the design of the body on the Farnese Hercules. The ancient sculpture measures 3.20 m and has a slightly curved body, just like Volz's warrior. However, the monumental effect of the ancient hero is not only due to his size; his head is smaller in relation to his body than in other ancient statues, which makes the body appear all the more powerful. Volz takes advantage of this effect by giving his warrior a beardless, youthful face. With his short, curly hair and determined gaze, Volz may have been inspired by busts of Caracalla.
In contrast to the older Hercules Farnese, who leans on his mighty club after heroic deeds, the youthful "Hercules" looks resolutely toward the deeds to come. His head is turned to the side, not forward, as if he has discovered something to look forward to. Full of fighting spirit, he has clenched his fist in one hand, while the other holds up the short sword, ready to draw it from its scabbard.
About the artist
While studying architecture in Karlsruhe, Hermann Volz attended art school to take drawing lessons. After serving as an officer in the Franco-Prussian War, he turned to sculpture in 1871 as a student of Carl Johann Steinhäuser. In the same year, he traveled to Italy, where he stayed regularly until 1913. After his return from Rome, he took lessons in anatomical drawing in Stuttgart with Hans Canon, a pupil of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. Back in Karlsruhe, Volz taught modeling at the School of Arts and Crafts from 1878 and was subsequently Professor of Sculpture at the Karlsruhe Academy of Art from 1880 until his retirement in 1919, where he also served as director several times.
Volz quickly became the most sought-after sculptor in the Grand Duchy of Baden, receiving numerous commissions for public monuments throughout the country, such as the war memorial in Hanover (1878), the Geibel memorial in Lübeck (1887-1889) and the equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Essen (1898).
In 1935, he created a larger-than-life Hitler head and took part in the Great German Art Exhibition in 1937 and 1938 at the advanced age of over 90, where his portrait bust of Winifred Wagner, the work “Orestes, fleeing from the Furies” and “Youth” were among the works on display.
