Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
A male figure stands in a contrapposto pose, with his weight resting on his right leg. His left leg is bent, and the foot is drawn back. His right arm hangs down away from his body, while his left hand bends forward and slightly down. He turns his large head to the right, the direction of his weight-bearing leg. His massively modeled body, with broad chest, high epigastric arch, protruding abdomen, and prominently muscled inguinal ridge, are compellingly reminiscent of the modeling visible in copies of Polykleitos’ Doryphoros. His nipples are small pointed protrusions, his navel is a tiny depression, and his genitalia are naturalistically modeled. The sides of his buttocks are slightly depressed, and the muscles of his back are shown to be well developed. His sturdy legs, with naturalistic knees, are well modeled. His fingers and toes are defined by incisions. The bottoms of the feet, from the big toe to the arch of the foot, resemble the soles of sandals.
Tips of rivets or pegs project from the feet; the left rivet or peg projects just behind the big toe, while the right projects from the heel. The position of the bent index finger of the left hand was caused by later damage. A prominent rectangular patch on the left shoulder, a brownish metallic color that is lighter than the surrounding shoulder, has been painstakingly dressed down in the final cold working stage.
The youth’s hair is a tight-fitting cap that extends around the base of his head. His right ear is summarily modeled, while the left ear is not rendered. There are traces of vertical locks around his left cheek in front of where his ear would have been, and there are faint traces of horizontal incisions just above the lower edge of the hair on his forehead.
The bulky modeling and clearly articulated stance of this youth connect him closely to the style and mood of Polykleitos’ early work. The cap-like hair, however, retains the characteristics of earlier transitional and Early Classical male coiffures, such as those worn by Herakles on the metopes from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Furthermore, the proportions of the youth’s head—broad at the top with a very shallowly convex crown—strongly recall the proportions and volumes of the Doryphoros (1).
NOTES:
1. Compare H. Beck, P. C. Bol, and M. Bückling, eds., Polyklet, der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik: Ausstellung im Liebieghaus, Museum Alter Plastik, Frankfurt am Main (Mainz, 1990) 654, no. 186 (Polykleitan-style bronze youth in the Louvre). For the Polykleitan influence on small bronzes, see A. Leibundgut, “Polykletische Elemente bei späthellenistischen und römischen Kleinbronzen: Zur Wirkungsgeschichte Polyklets in der Kleinplastik,” in Beck, Bol, and Bückling 1990 (supra) 397-427. For bronze statuettes of athletes, see R. Thomas, Griechische Bronzestatuetten (Darmstadt, 1992) 147-72. For additional bibliography, see H. Cahn, Art of Ancient Italy: Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans, Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York; Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, April 4-29, 1970, lot 103.
David G. Mitten
