The figure of "Hercules and Cacus" was carved by Baccio Bandinelli as
a companion piece for "David". While the "David" was commissioned by
Florence's republican council to celebrate the brief defeat of the
Medici, among others, Bandinelli's statue was commissioned
by the Medici to celebrate the defeat of their enemies; it was also
a riposte to Mechelangelo's
"republican" masterpiece. For once the Medici was outclassed, for
Bandinelli's work was ridiculed from the moment it was
unveiled. One fellow sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini, described the muscle-bound
figures as resembling a "sackful of melons". What is more tantalizing, the
piece of marble had originally been offered to Michelangelo.
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