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Lot Essay
In an undated letter of expertise to the previous owner of this torso, the archaeologist Herbert Hoffmann (1930-2012) considered this to be an “important Greek original of the second quarter of the fifth century B.C.” He further added that “the vigorous modelling and the naturalistic representation of the thorax and stomach muscles are noteworthy.” That an athlete is depicted is suggested by the remains of a fillet falling across both his shoulders. Hoffmann believed that the small-scale of the present torso indicated a votive function.
The torso belongs to a group produced at the onset of the Classical Period. As G. Richter informs (p. 148 in Kouroi, Archaic Greek Youths: A Study of the Kouros Type in Greek Sculpture), at this moment in the development of the nude youth, the “sculptor had now achieved mastery of the anatomical structure-and what follows is the opening of a new era. He was in possession of a full repertory of anatomical forms.” In comparison to the strictly frontal attitude expressed in earlier Archaic kouroi, these early Classical torsos display some of the first instances of the contrapposto stance, here indicated by the weight resting on the now-missing right leg with the associated pelvic thrust and the slightly raised and twisted left shoulder. For similar examples, see two torsos in the Louvre and one in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (nos. 192-194 in Richter, op. cit.).
Surviving examples of Greek statuary from the Classical Period are rare. They are identified by an outstanding attention to modeling and naturalistic expression of the body and its movements, as demonstrated here. These sculptures served as the inspiration for later Roman artists and their patrons, who desired works that evoked the Hellenic ethos and artistic traditions to decorate their villas, gardens and public monuments. In order to satiate demand for Greek works of art, Roman artists - in addition to sculpting wholly unique creations - also took casts of Greek originals to replicate them in marble or bronze (see S. Hemingway, “Posthumous Copies of Ancient Greek Sculpture: Roman Taste and Techniques,” Sculpture Review, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 26-33. These models, like the present torso, served as ever-present exemplars not only for Roman artists, but also for those looking back to classical antiquity in the Renaissance and beyond.
This torso originates from a critical moment in the history of art and in the development of representations of the human body. As Richter (op. cit., p. 148) surmises, these rare examples present us bodies whose various parts “are in proportional relation to one another, forming a balanced whole. This play of proportion in course of time led to the Canon of Polykleitos, which took the place of the interrelated patterns of the early age. And this feeling for the interrelation of parts to one another and to the whole remained a characteristic of Greek art throughout its history.”
The torso belongs to a group produced at the onset of the Classical Period. As G. Richter informs (p. 148 in Kouroi, Archaic Greek Youths: A Study of the Kouros Type in Greek Sculpture), at this moment in the development of the nude youth, the “sculptor had now achieved mastery of the anatomical structure-and what follows is the opening of a new era. He was in possession of a full repertory of anatomical forms.” In comparison to the strictly frontal attitude expressed in earlier Archaic kouroi, these early Classical torsos display some of the first instances of the contrapposto stance, here indicated by the weight resting on the now-missing right leg with the associated pelvic thrust and the slightly raised and twisted left shoulder. For similar examples, see two torsos in the Louvre and one in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (nos. 192-194 in Richter, op. cit.).
Surviving examples of Greek statuary from the Classical Period are rare. They are identified by an outstanding attention to modeling and naturalistic expression of the body and its movements, as demonstrated here. These sculptures served as the inspiration for later Roman artists and their patrons, who desired works that evoked the Hellenic ethos and artistic traditions to decorate their villas, gardens and public monuments. In order to satiate demand for Greek works of art, Roman artists - in addition to sculpting wholly unique creations - also took casts of Greek originals to replicate them in marble or bronze (see S. Hemingway, “Posthumous Copies of Ancient Greek Sculpture: Roman Taste and Techniques,” Sculpture Review, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 26-33. These models, like the present torso, served as ever-present exemplars not only for Roman artists, but also for those looking back to classical antiquity in the Renaissance and beyond.
This torso originates from a critical moment in the history of art and in the development of representations of the human body. As Richter (op. cit., p. 148) surmises, these rare examples present us bodies whose various parts “are in proportional relation to one another, forming a balanced whole. This play of proportion in course of time led to the Canon of Polykleitos, which took the place of the interrelated patterns of the early age. And this feeling for the interrelation of parts to one another and to the whole remained a characteristic of Greek art throughout its history.”