Héraklès archer - Émile-Antoine Bourdelle
The figure’s left knee is bent, his foot supported at a perpendicular line. His right knee is also bent, with the leg turned out to the right. His torso is in a right rotation, right lateral inclination, and a forward inclination, with his head angled in profile so that his eyes are looking toward the arrow. The left arm is fully extended, hand grasping the bow, and the right arm is bent, holding the bowstring with strength.
The tension in the statue generates the visual of a taut bowstring with arrow, even though it isn’t there. The piece feels powerful, monumental. It depicts Hercules’ sixth labor, in which he would expel the man-eating Stymphalian birds from an Arcadian marsh using Hydra blood-tipped arrows.