This piece has been identified as a model for Delvaux's marble Hercules. Commissioned by Charles, Duke of Lorraine, the marble was placed in the Palais de Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine, Brussels, later the Musée de Peinture Moderne, and now the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts. It was carved in 1768-1770, and is signed and dated 1770. The arms of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, Governor of the States of Brabant 1750-1775, which is incised on the trunk on which the figure leans, confirms the connection of the present piece with the marble in Brussels.

Delvaux (1696-1778) was trained in Antwerp under Pieter-Denis Plumier, with whom he was later to work in London alongside Peter Scheemakers on the monument of John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham in Westminster Abbey. Delvaux and Schneemakers went into partnership and executed monuments and some garden figures. In 1728 they lefty London for Rome where he remained until 1732, before returning to the Netherlands. While in Rome he executed a number of commissions for Italian and British patrons including John Russell 4th Duke of Bedford, who commissioned a number of works inspired by antique sculpture. He was appointed court sculptor in Brussels in 1733, and in 1734 settled in Nivelles where his workshop produced many religious works, including the monumental pulpit at St Bavo, Ghent. After 1750 he was employed by Charles of Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Netherlands, to produce decorative work for his residences in Brussels, Tervuren and Mariemont.