Depicted Baroque sculpture of Heracles fighting Antaîos (Greek mythology) decorates left side of monumental stairway in Cour d'honneur of the Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí (zámek Vranov nad Dyjí).
The exceptionally valuable Baroque sculptural group of sculptor Lorenzo Mattielli (ca 1730), together with the opposite sculptural group Aeneas and Anchises, forms a highly impressive unified unit that significantly enhances the architecturally demanding staircase and the entire environment of the Chateau's Cour d'honneur.
The sculpture of Heracles fighting Antaîos is over-life-size. Crouched and with his right side facing forward, Heracles grips Anthé high above the ground with both hands. Both characters are presented almost in the act. In the center of the sculptural group is vertically standing a huge Heracles club. Heracles' figure has a very well-developed musculature, his face is lined with a shorter beard, compared to him, Antheus is more fragile, more youthful, beardless, and short hair. The sculptural group has a distinctly spiral composition.
Chateau Vranov nad Dyjí, one of the most remarkable buildings of the Central European Baroque, was created by rebuilding of a Romanesque-Gothic castle firstly mentioned in 1100. The current form was imprinted on it after a devastating fire in 1665.
Heracles (Hercules in Latin), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost.
Antaîos (Antaeus in Latin), known to the Berbers as Anti, was a figure in Berber and Greek mythology. In Greek sources, he was the giant son of Poseidon and Gaia, who lived in the interior desert of Libya. His wife was the goddess Tinge, for whom the city of Tangier in Morocco was named, and he had a daughter named Alceis or Barce. He was famed for his loss to Heracles as part of his twelve Labours. Antaeus would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches and remained invincible as long as he remained in contact with his mother, the earth. As Greek wrestling, like its modern equivalent, typically attempted to force opponents to the ground, he always won, killing his opponents. He built a temple to his father using their skulls. Antaeus fought Heracles as he was on his way to the Garden of Hesperides as his 11th Labour. Heracles realized that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing or pinning him. Instead, he held him aloft and then crushed him to death in a bear hug.
The contest between Heracles and Antaeus was a favored subject in ancient, Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.
[excerpted from Wikipedia]