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
An excellent instance of this tendency seems to be afforded by the
so-called _Standing Diskobolos_ in the Sala della Biga of the Vatican
(Pl. 6),[660] known since its discovery by Gavin Hamilton in 1792.
It represents a youth who is apparently taking position for throwing
the diskos, the weight of the body resting on the left leg, the knees
slightly bent, the feet firmly planted, and the diskos held in the left
hand, just prior to its being passed to the right. This position is one
which immediately precedes that of Myron’s great statue. The bronze
original dates from the second half of the fifth century B. C., and
has been variously assigned to Myron by Brunn, to Alkamenes by Kekulé,
followed by Overbeck, Michaelis and Furtwaengler,[661] and to Naukydes,
the brother and pupil of Polykleitos.[662] The head of the Vatican
statue shows no trace of Peloponnesian art, but rather resembles Attic
types of the end of the fifth century B. C. However, as we shall
see, this head does not appear to belong to the statue. Among the works
of Alkamenes Pliny mentions a bronze pentathlete,[663] called the
_Enkrinomenos_, and this work has been identified with the statue under
discussion.[664] Such an assumption is tenable only if the statue fits
Pliny’s epithet. This epithet appears to mean “undergoing a test,” and
should refer not to the statue, for we know nothing of any principle
of selecting statues, but to the athlete represented, the ἔγκρισις
referring to the selection of athletes before the contest.[665] Pliny’s
statue, then, presumably, represented a pentathlete, not in action
as the Vatican statue does, but standing at rest before his judges.
An all-round athlete like a pentathlete would especially fit such an
ordeal, and his statue, albeit lighter and more graceful, would be
an ideal one like the _Doryphoros_ of Polykleitos.[666] We know how
Alkamenes treated Hermes from the bearded herma of that god found
in Pergamon in 1903 and inscribed with his name.[667] Its massive
features, broad forehead, and wide-opened eyes bear no analogy to the
head on the Vatican statue, nor to the one with which Helbig would
replace it. The ascription of the statue to Naukydes is better founded.
As the head of the statue is Attic and not Argive, it is difficult to
connect the work with a Peloponnesian artist. However, the present head
of the statue can not be shown to belong to it, and no other replica
has a head which can be proved to belong to the body. A fragmentary
replica of the statue, of good workmanship, was found in Rome in 1910,
and nearby a head, which must belong to the torso.[668] This head
fits the Vatican statue better than the head now on it, and certainly
comes from the Polykleitan circle—both head and body showing elements
of Polykleitan style. This new head represents the transition from
Polykleitan art to that of the next century, _i. e._, to the head-types
of Skopas, Praxiteles, and other Attic masters. Presumably, then,
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