A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF EROS

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF EROS
Circa 1st Century A.D.
Depicted as an adolescent boy in the process of unstringing his bow, the god standing with his weight firmly planted on his left leg, his right leg bent at the knee, his fleshy torso leaning slightly forward and to his left, his right arm extended straight out, his left stretched across his body, his now-missing hands originally gripping the bow, the remains of his wings at his shoulders, and the top of his quiver preserved joined to his left leg, originally serving as the support
32 in. (81.3 cm) high

Provenance

Galerie Nefer, Zurich, 1983
Important Antiquities, Sotheby's New York, 17 December 1992, lot 75
Gallerie Occident-Orient, Paris, 1995
Royal Athena Gallery, New York

Literature

Art of the Ancient World, Volume IX, Royal Athena Gallery, 1997, no. 1

Lot Essay

The original version of this sculpture is traditionally attributed to Lysippos, and once stood in a major sanctuary of Eros in Thespiai. The subject was immensely popular with the Romans, as evinced by the number of surviving copies, including one now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome, one in the Archeological Museum in Venice, and another in the British Museum (see no. 352a-c in Hermary, "Eros," in LIMC.)

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