Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
right hand raised as if in prayer and the left lowered and holding a
leaping-weight—therefore a pentathlete—seems to correspond with this
description of the statue of Akousilaos. The same motive may have been
used in the statue of the chariot victress Kyniska, a princess of
Sparta, whose statue along with that of her charioteer and the chariot
was the work of the sculptor Apellas.[1008] This is the interpretation
of Furtwaengler,[1009] based on a passage in Pliny, which mentions
statues of _adornantes se feminas_[1010] by Apellas, which he reads
_adorantes feminas_. However, _adornantes_ may be right, for in another
passage, Pliny speaks of Praxiteles’ statue of a ψελιουμένη, _i. e._,
of a woman clasping a bracelet on her arm.[1011] Two notable bronze
statues will illustrate this motive of Olympic victor statues. The
statue found in 1502 at Zellfeld in Carinthia, now in Vienna,[1012] has
been interpreted both as a Hermes Logios and a votive statue in the
attitude of prayer,[1013] which latter interpretation the inscription
on the leg, giving a list of dedications,[1014] favors. However,
Furtwaengler believes it a free imitation of an Argive victor statue,
though not in the Polykleitan style. Because of its similarity to
the _Idolino_ (Pl. 14), he has ascribed its original to the sculptor
Patrokles. From technical considerations he believes it is not a Greek
original dedicated by Romans of a later period, but a Roman work (after
Patrokles) of the period of the inscription.[1015] The bronze statue of
the _Praying Boy_ in Berlin[1016] (Pl. 10) is one of our most beautiful
Greek bronzes and comes from the circle of Lysippos.[1017] We now know
that the uplifted arms of this statue, in which most scholars saw the
Greek attitude of prayer, are restorations which were probably made in
the time of Louis XIV, when the statue was in France. Of the original
motive we only can say that the action of the shoulders shows that
both arms were raised, but we do not know how far, or the position of
the hands. Monumental evidence shows that the hands in prayer should
have the palms turned away from the face instead of upwards, as in
the present statue, since the Greek position was the outgrowth of an
old apotropaic gesture, _i. e._, one directed against an evil spirit.
Mau’s idea[1018] that the figure represented a player catching a
ball is certainly inconsistent with the calm attitude of the statue.
Furtwaengler rejected it,[1019] and he has restored the arms and hands
on the basis of a Berlin gem[1020] and an _ex voto_ relief found by
the French excavators at Nemea in 1884.[1021] On this relief a youth
crowned with a woolen fillet is represented. On both relief and gem
the figures are in the same attitude, the arms raised over the head
_manibus supinis_, which confirms the restoration of the Berlin statue.
Many other monuments give the more usual attitude of prayer, not as
in the relief and gem discussed, but with only one hand extended as
high as the breast.
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