AN IMPORTANT ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF THE DIADUMENOS OF POLYKLEITOS

Details
AN IMPORTANT ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF THE DIADUMENOS OF POLYKLEITOS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D., AFTER THE ORIGINAL OF CIRCA 430 B.C.

The youthful, athletic body standing with tÿhe weight on the right leg, the left leg at ease, slightly pulled back and turned out to the left, the arms originally raised to hold the fillet which was bound around the head, the bulging right pectoral contrasting with the flexed left one due to the position of the right arm which was lower and more extended from the body, while the left arm was raised and sharply bent at the elbow, which, together with the lowered right shoulder and the pelvic thrust to the right, creates a compressed left side, a corresponding expanded right side, and a pronounced curve to the lower abdomen, 44 1/8 in. (112 cm.) high.
Provenance
Collection of Prince Sayn-Wittgenstein, Schloss Sayn, Koblenz, Germany

Private Collection, Seeheim, Germany
Literature
No. 69 in Beck, Bol, and Bückling, Polyklet Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, Liebieghaus, Museum alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main, 1990.

Picon, "Polykleitan and Related Sculptures in American Collections: Recent Acquisitions" in Polykleitos, The Doryphoros and Tradition, Madison, forthcoming.
Exhibited
Polyklet, Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, in the Liebieghaus Museum alter Plastk, Frankfurt am Main, October 17, 1990 - January 20, 1991

Lot Essay

The Diadumenos or fillet-binder of Polykleitos was one of the most celebrated sculptures in antiquity. The work is referred to by the Roman writers Lucian, Pliny, and Seneca who praised it for its beauty and value. The original does not survive, but based on these literary descriptions, it is securely recognized in Roman copies. Where the original once stood and what precisely was depicted is not known, and the ancients are quiet on these points. Undoubtedly, Polykleitos' creation was in bronze, and would haveÿ been commissioned to celebrate an athletic victory and set up in one of the Panhellenic sanctuaries. A fairly complete version from Delos, now in the National Museum in Athens, can be identified as Apollo based on the presence of his quiver suspended from the tree-stump support, likely the addition of the late Hellenistic copyist. Other versions, such as the Metropolitan Museum's restored example, have a palm-stump as the support, alluding to the palm branch, an attribute of victorious athletes. Excellent examples of the head are in museums in Kassel, Dresden, and New York, and examples of the torso are in Basel, Naples, and Tunis. The splendid torso presented here is considered one of the most skillful and precise ancient copies of the original to have survived.

Polykleitos was one of the most famous and influential sculptors of the high classical period. A native of Argos in the Peloponnesus, his artistic career flourished from circa 450-420 B.C. In addition to the Diadumenos, several other of his works are described in ancient literature and are recognized in surviving Roman copies, including the Doryphoros or Spear-Bearer, as well as his Kyniskos, identified as the Westmacott Athlete since the 19th Century. His Amazon of Ephesus was famed for having been chosen in a competition over works by the sculptors Pheidias and Kresilas, while his most magnificent creation was the colossal gold and ivory cult statue of Hera from the Heraeum of his native Argos. Pliny tells us that Polykleitos wrote about his theories of rhythm and proportion. This sculptural Canon emphasized the juxtaposition of antithetical pairs, such as right and left, straight and curved, relaxed and tensed, rest and movement. The Doryphoros is considered the embodiment of Polykleitos's Canon, while the Diadumenos beautifully demonstrates the Canon's "inexhaustible possibilities".

See Also:
Pp. 206-212 in Bol, Diadumenos in Beck, Bol, and Bückling, Polyklet, Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, Liebieghaus, Museum alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main, 1990.

Pp. 238-247 in Furtwängler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, Chicago, 1964 edition.

No. 38-39, pp. 30-32 in Richter, Catalogue of Greek Sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cambridge, 1954.

No. 13 in Ridgway, Classical Sculpture, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1972.

Pp. 160-163 in Stewart, Greek Sculpture, An Exploration, New Haven & London, 1990.

Vÿermeule, Polykleitos, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1969.