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
[Illustration: FIG. 54.—Boxing Scenes. From a r.-f. Kylix by Douris.
British Museum, London.]
[Illustration: FIG. 55.—Boxing and Pankration Scenes. From a r.-f.
Kylix. British Museum, London.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.—Boxing Scene. From a b.-f. Panathenaic
Panel-Amphora. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.]
[Illustration: FIG. 57.—Statue of a Boxer, from Sorrento. By Koblanos
of Aphrodisias. Museum of Naples.]
We may infer how a Polykleitan statue of a boxer at rest looked, from
the Roman copy of one in Kassel.[1706] Here a youth just out of boyhood
is represented as standing with the weight of the body resting upon the
right leg and the head turned to the right. The forearms are covered
with gloves, the right fist being raised for attack and the left for
defense. Another marble statue, representing a boxer in repose, was
found in a fragmentary condition in Sorrento in 1888, and is now in the
National Museum at Naples (Fig. 57).[1707] It is inscribed as the work
of Koblanos of Aphrodisias in Karia, whom we know as a copyist of the
first century A. D., and who was active in reproducing Greek works for
the Roman market.[1708] The body forms are too badly injured for us
accurately to date the original from which this copy was made, but the
head gives us the clue, as its style appears to be a connecting link
between that of the seated statue of _Herakles_, in the Palazzo Altemps
in Rome[1709] and the Munich _Oil-pourer_ (Pl. 11),[1710] as it shows
affinity to both. Though Sogliano referred it to the school of Lysippos
and Juethner to the beginning of the fourth century B. C., it shows
indubitable Myronian characteristics and may have been the work of
Myron’s pupil Lykios, who is known to us as an athlete sculptor.[1711]
In this statue the youth is resting his weight on his right leg, the
left, with full sole on the ground, being turned to one side. The left
forearm is extended outwards and to the side, the head leaning toward
the right leg—in other words, the athlete is represented in an attitude
similar to that of the _Idolino_ (Pl. 14). As there is an olive crown
in the hair, it seems reasonable to conclude that the original statue
was that of an Olympic victor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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