power and pathos - Palazzo Strozzi

Power and
Pathos
Bronze Sculpture of
the Hellenistic World
FLORENCE Palazzo Strozzi
14 marCH–21 June 2015
Curated by
Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin
Texts
Ludovica Sebregondi
Translation
Stephen Tobin
During the Hellenistic period – from the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BCE until the establishment
of the Roman Empire in 31 BCE – the medium of bronze
drove artistic experimentation and innovation in Greece
and elsewhere across the Mediterranean. Sculptors broke
free from the Classical canon, replacing idealized forms
with realistic renderings of physical and emotional states.
Surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective
effects, and ability to hold the finest detail, bronze was
employed for dynamic compositions, dazzling displays
of the nude body, and graphic expressions of age and
character.
Cast from alloys of copper, tin, lead, and other elements,
bronze statues were produced in the thousands
throughout the Hellenistic world. They were concentrated
in public spaces and outdoor settings: honorific portraits
of rulers and citizens populated city squares, and images
of gods, heroes, and humans crowded sanctuaries. Few,
however, survive, and those that do are customarily
displayed in museums as isolated masterpieces.
This unprecedented exhibition – organised in conjunction
with the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana, the
J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, DC – brings together about
fifty of the most significant bronzes and presents them in
their larger contexts. Several closely related works are
displayed here side by side for the first time.
Complementing and expanding this exploration of ancient
bronzes at Palazzo Strozzi, the Museo Archeologico
Nazionale of Florence presents the exhibition Great
Small Bronzes. Greek, Roman and Etruscan Masterpieces
(March 21–June 21), featuring the extraordinary
collection of small-scale bronze sculptures assembled by
the Medici and Lorrain families over the course of three
centuries.
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4
5
Statue Base signed by
Lysippos
End of fourth–beginning of third
century BCE
blue-grey limestone
Corinth, 37th Ephorate of Prehistoric
and Classical Antiquities
This base for a statue (unearthed in
ancient Corinth in 1901) still bears an
inscription which, when completed,
reads “Lysippos made this” and the
holes for the feet of a bronze figure.
It is displayed here to evoke the many
Hellenistic bronze statues now lost
and the difficulty in reconstructing the
original function of those that have
survived out of context. The right leg
extended forward while the left stood
back to rest on the base. The figure
may have been a life size male nude.
6
Portrait Statue of Aule
Meteli (Arringatore)
Late second century BCE
bronze
Florence, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
This statue was found in Sanguineto
on Lake Trasimene in 1566 and
promptly entered Cosimo I de’
Medici’s collection. The attire is
Roman but the inscription on the
toga’s hem is Etruscan. The votive
statue, portraying Aule of the Meteli
gens (a leading family in Cortona), the
son of Vel and Vesi, and dedicated to
the god Tece Sans (“Tece the Father”),
was perhaps offered by the Chisuli
community. The right hand is held
out and is open in the gesture known
as silentium manu facere, which
preceded public prayer.
7
Formulas
of Power
Statuette of Alexander the
Great on Horseback
First century BCE
bronze, with silver inlays
Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
This statuette was discovered in
Herculaneum in 1761. Alexander the
Great’s conquests had an impact on
art, introducing new portrait types and
more dynamic groups. Alexander, a
royal diadem in his hair, is shown here
on horseback, perhaps on Alexander’s
steed Bucephalus himself. This may
be a miniature copy of the central
figure in a bronze group by Lysippos
from the sanctuary of Zeus at Dion
commemorating the battle against the
Persians on the river Granicus in 334
BCE, or else a Roman adaptation of a
Hellenistic prototype.
The conquests of Alexander the Great (ruled 336–323
BCE) transformed ancient politics and culture, vastly
expanding the geographical borders of the Greek world
as far as India and diminishing individual city-states’
autonomy. Alexander’s early death left his domain in
the hands of his generals, the Diadochoi, who sought
to emulate his charismatic style and adopted the
representational models created for him. Many of these
are the work of Lysippos of Sikyon, the most famous
sculptor of the time, who seems to have worked solely in
bronze, transforming earlier, Classical athletic types into
vigorous new images of the powerful ruler. Portraying
both men and women, ruler portraiture emerged as a
distinctive genre in the Hellenistic age, and bronze was
its primary medium.
The Diadochoi, like Alexander, typically commissioned
their own portraits, but these statues were often
also erected by disempowered cities seeking or
acknowledging favour. The fragmentary condition of most
of the surviving examples, however, makes the certain
identification of the individuals difficult.
8
Horse Head (“Medici
Riccardi” Horse)
Second half of the fourth century BCE
bronze
Florence, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
The restoration of the Horse
Head (“Medici Riccardi”
Horse) from the Museo
Archeologico Nazionale in
Florence was made possible
through the generous support
of the Friends of Florence
Foundation.
This head, an original Greek work
which can be dated to between the late
Classical and early Hellenistic periods
and is part of a life size equestrian
statue, is a rare example of an ancient
bronze.
Most such items are now lost after
being melted down for metal in the
Middle Ages. The statue is known
to have formed part of Lorenzo the
Magnificent’s collection in the garden
of Palazzo Medici in Florence, though it
may formerly have belonged to Cosimo
the Elder as Donatello, who was in
charge of antiquities for the Medici
family, appears to have studied it.
9
10
Head of a Man with Kausia
Third century BCE
bronze, faïence or alabaster
Pothia, Archaeological Museum of
Kalymnos
Portrait of Arsinoë III
Late third century–early second
century BCE
bronze
Mantua, Museo Civico di Palazzo Te
Discovered off Kalymnos in the
Aegean in 1997, this head is part of
a Hellenistic portrait statue. The kausia
– a distinctive mark of Macedonian
identity – was a broad leather or cloth
hat protecting the wearer from the
heat and cold, which began to be
depicted in art in the Hellenistic era
after Alexander the Great’s conquests.
The sitter’s pronounced features, the
twist of his head and his intensely
expressive gaze all add a distinctly
psychological depth to this portrait.
Probably unearthed in Egypt, this
head was given by the collector
Giuseppe Acerbi to the city of Mantua
in 1840. The sitter has been identified
as Arsinoe III Philopator (217–204
BCE), queen of Egypt and the wife
of Ptolemy IV. The identification is
borne out by a comparison with the
portrait of the queen found on coins.
This portrait, remarkable for its sober
realism, is an honest record of the
queen’s real features, toning down
only her most striking profile.
Portrait of a Diadoch
(Demetrios Poliorketes?)
310–290 BCE
bronze
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
Statue of a Man
Second century BCE
Bronze
Brindisi, Museo Archeologico
Provinciale “F. Ribezzo”
Both the head’s monumental
dimensions (suggesting a statue 3.5
metres high) and its pronounced
features point to this being a portrait.
An original Greek bronze, it may
depict Demetrios Poliorketes (c. 336–
283 BCE) when he was proclaimed
king of the Athenians, together with
his father Antigonos I, at the age
of about thirty in 307 BCE. This is
the first time that the title, Diadoch
(successor) reserved for Alexander’s
general, was used.
Found in the sea off Brindisi in
1992, these two fragments are all
that remains of the statue. The face
combines realistic features with
elements of pathos, and the pose
is typical of sculpture of the midHellenistic period. Lacking a diadem,
this may well have been a 2nd century
BCE Roman commander, perhaps
Lucius Emilius Paullus who led Rome
to victory over the forces of Perseus of
Macedon in Pidna in 168 BCE. The
statue may have been earmarked for
melting down because it was found in
the wreck of a Venetian ship carrying
booty from Constantinople after the
sack of 1204.
11
Portrait of a Man
First century BCE
Bronze
Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum
This head, which may have been part
of a full-figure statue, shows a strong
contrast between the linearity of the
facial features and the raw modelling
and finish of the hair. The face echoes
the dynamic energy of the Hellenistic
princes but it lacks tension and
intensity.
The anastolé (the quiff of hair
characteristic of Alexander the
Great) and the idealised traits are
not so much individual features as
set iconographic formulae which no
longer express a temperament as they
did in earlier Hellenistic portraiture.
Bodies
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and
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and
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ia ati sendeps,
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igna,
minute details.
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imo etLysistratos
Catquamisest?
fashioned moulds directly from living bodies, and many
senducitum, quam me deessimum aur. Si ta ex nest
Hellenistic bronzes display considerable anatomical
vivehebatere
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inaextreme
nonsus,poses
nondam
subtlety. Bronze
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erit nos,
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even blood.
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abem optia quam ut
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their repertory
of images,
HellenisticC.artists
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dit ocupios,
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depicted diverse
body types
in various
states,
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young
old, energised
to exhausted,
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virisqutoamquem
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Sculptors looked back to the contrapposto stances
iliurev iviribe ssincus volus etinatqua dertuam inprist?
popular in the Classical era, but also experimented with
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poses thatpribefa
took greater
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Ignare
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mo idem itua cont? Tatius, omnihillerei is, octandiis.
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sente vius; nostercerfex seropop ublicae quoniquem,
notisquid dii probsenatus se in tam publius, se con
tri coerisq uodicat, obus fitabus, videtor tidetima,
factorte, nos ficaed caturemque inati iae intem is imust
cupio te hilicaet, orum niquons ignaribuntis sa num
deris cuperfi caudenihilis Catiusa vene iusa
12
13
Statuette of a Ruler as
Hermes or Perseus
First century BCE–first century CE
bronze
Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
The sitter’s identity here remains
unknown. His distinctive features and
the fact that one of the cloth bands
around his head resembles a diadem
have prompted scholars to identify
him as a Hellenistic prince, while
comparison with coins has led to
alternative suggestions ranging from
Alexander I Balas of Syria, Antiochos
II, Antiochos VIII Grypus and Philip V
of Macedon to Perseus and Eumenes
II, or to his identification with a divinity
on account of the wings bound to his
ankles.
Statue of a Young Man
Third–fourth century BCE
bronze
Athens, Ephorate of Underwater
Antiquities
This statue was recovered by a fishing
boat off the island of Kythnos in
2004. The figure projects an athletic
image and the way it holds a now lost
item in its hand suggests that it may be
a discobolos
or discus thrower. The statue still
contains a compact but crumbly mass
of reddish clay which may date to the
initial phases in its creation. The statue
must have been cast using the cire
perdue – or lost wax – process.
14
Statuette of Hermes
c. 150 BCE
bronze
London, The British Museum
A Hellenistic original from Saponara
in ancient Lucania, its petasos (broadbrimmed hat) identifies this statuette
as Hermes. The pose and calligraphic
treatment of the hair echo the work of
Greek sculptor Polykleitos (5th century)
while the muscles of the torso, the slim
legs and the proportion of the small
head to the powerful bust are inspired
by Lysippos (4th century), a synthesis
suggesting a date between the 2nd
and 1st centuries BCE when Hellenistic
art entered a “classicising” phase.
Statuette of the Weary
Herakles
Third century BCE or first century
CE (?); copy of a fourth-century BCE
bronze by Lysippos
bronze, silver
Chieti, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale d’Abruzzo
Discovered in 1959 in the Sanctuary
of Hercules Curinus in Sulmona, where
Hercules was venerated as a protector
of springs and patron of soldiers and
merchants, this statuette’s inscription
tells us that it was dedicated by
Marcus Attius Peticius Marsus, a
member of a merchant family active
in the eastern Mediterranean between
the 1st century BCE and the 1st
century CE. The figure is based on a
very popular lost original by Lysippos,
personal sculptor to Alexander the
Great.
15
16
Statuette of an Artisan
Mid-first century BCE
bronze, silver
New York, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Rogers Fund, 1972
Statue of Eros Sleeping
Third–second century BCE
bronze
New York, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Rogers Fund, 1943
Hellenistic era portraits include
mythological and historical figures
depicted with intense realism. The
physique and short tunic here suggest
an artisan, but as he carries a
notebook in his belt, it may depict the
Athenian sculptor Phidias, Epeios who
carved the Trojan Horse, Daidalos
who built the Cretan labyrinth at
Knossos, or Hephaistos, god of the
forge, who was lame. The position of
the head and shoulders could suggest
the figure was depicted leaning on
a stick.
This outstanding work – possibly the
oldest of its iconographical type – in
which the purity and innocence of love
take the shape of a sleeping child,
was reportedly discovered on Rhodes.
The legend of Eros as the product
of a union between Aphrodite, the
goddess of love, and Ares, the god of
war, took root in the Hellenistic era.
The small winged figure went on to
become a standard type, inspiring
depictions of the Roman god Cupid
and of cherubs and putti in the
Renaissance.
Statuette of Herakles
Epitrapezios
First century BCE–first century CE
bronze, limestone
Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
Statue of a Seated Boxer
(Terme Boxer)
Early hellenistic (third century BCE)
bronze with copper inlays
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano,
Palazzo Massimo
Unearthed in the peristyle of a
suburban villa close to the river Sarno
in 1902, this figure’s club, muscular
body, curling hair and thick beard all
tell us that it is a likeness of Heracles.
The type, numerous examples of which
have come down to us, is associated
with Lysippos on the basis of ancient
descriptions of a small bronze owned
by Roman collector Novius Vindex.
The numerous variants testify to the
popularity in the Roman era of works
attributed to the Hellenistic master.
The Terme Boxer, unearthed on the
Quirinal Hill in 1885, is one of the
few Greek bronzes preserved in its
entirety. Before being brought to
Rome, the statue must have been
on display in a public space in the
athlete’s home town in Greece.
His cauliflower ears, broken nose,
traumas, scars, cuts and bruises are
all portrayed with crude realism.
The sophisticated modelling of the
bronze deepens the emotive response
and lends itself to an illusion: the
copper inlay on the edges of the cuts
represents blood dripping from the
wounds.
17
Likeness and
Expression
Realistic features and the convincing rendition of
emotional states are hallmarks of Hellenistic sculpture.
Whether depicting fresh youth or withered age, stoic
calm or attention to cares, seemingly individual features
replaced the largely idealised portrait types of earlier
periods through such details as soft, rolling flesh,
furrowed brows, and crows’ feet.
Pathos – “lived experience” – came to be represented
physically, and naturalistic, expressive forms soon became
formulas. Hellenistic traditions of balancing pathos and
the ideal were borrowed by sculptors in Italy working for
both Etruscan and Roman Republican patrons, spreading
Greek styles to the West as Alexander and his successors
had done in the East. Indeed, the careful observation
of naturalistic details and individualising features were
also applied to images of foreigners and figures on the
margins of society, further broadening the sculptural
genres of the period.
18
Portrait of a Man
End of second–beginning of first
century BCE
bronze, glass paste, black stone
Athens, National Archaeological
Museum
This head, the only large bronze to
have been unearthed on Delos, was
discovered in the Granite Palaestra
in 1912. Its emotive intensity and
expressive individuality have led it
to become one of the most famous
Greek portraits ever found. Once part
of a full-figure statue, each element in
the head is designed to accentuate
pathos, a characteristic trend in late
Hellenistic portrait sculpture.
Portrait of a Bearded Man
c. 150 BCE
marble
Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum
This head belonged to a statue some
2.4 metres high, its superhuman
dimensions clearly suggesting a hero,
although both the sitter’s identity
and the sculpture’s date are still a
matter for debate. The head may
undoubtedly be included among the
portraits of great men that emerged
in the wake of Alexander the Great,
designed to bolster the legitimacy
of their power and their dynastic
ties, combining distinctive individual
features with dramatic, idealised traits.
19
Head of a Votive Statue
375–350 BCE
bronze
London, The British Museum
Unearthed on an island in Lake
Bolsena in 1771, this head, which is
part of a life size votive figure, testifies
to Etruscan artists’ skill in embracing
the Classical Greek style. The short
fringe, long ringlets, dilated pupils in
round eyes, sketchy eyebrows and
stubbly beard are all Etruscan, the 5th
century Greek aesthetic combining
with features proper to central Italy
and remaining fashionable in Umbria
and Etruria even at the height of the
Hellenistic period.
Portrait of a Man
Late fourth–third century BCE
bronze, copper, glass paste
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de
France, Département des Monnaies,
médailles et antiques (collection Duc
de Luynes)
Discovered close to San Giovanni
Lipioni, this portrait has been
associated with the Roman conquest
of Samnium, but its date and the
sitter’s identity remain open to debate.
It was certainly part of a standing or
equestrian statue of a member of the
ruling classes.
Its cubic structure, the flat facial
surfaces, the stubbly beard and the
hairstyle all point to an Etruscan-Italic
style found in individualised votive
and funerary images.
20
Portrait Statue of a Young
Ephebe
First half of the first century BCE
bronze
Heraklion, Archaeological Museum
This is a rare example from the period
following the Roman conquest of Crete
but preceding Octavian’s victory at
Actium in 31 BCE, which marked the
end of the late Hellenistic tradition and
ushered in a new era for Crete during
which figurative art flourished anew
under the Pax Romana. The statue’s
posture and drapery are redolent of
the late Classical era but the shape of
the head and the hair are influenced
by models dating to the first half of the
1st century BCE.
Portrait Statue of an
Aristocratic Boy
Augustan period (27 BCE–14 CE)
bronze
New York, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Rogers Fund, 1914
Possibly from Rhodes – an important
centre for the production of bronze
statues, including the celebrated
Colossus – this figure testifies to the
continuation of the tradition into the
early Imperial era. The sitter’s identity
is uncertain. The hairstyle echoes
the official portraits of members of
the family of the Emperor Augustus,
but it might also be a member of the
Rhodian aristocracy following the
fashion set by the Imperial family.
21
Portrait of a Man
First century BCE
bronze
Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
The bust was added during the
Renaissance to this head, which
belonged to the Medici and Bembo
collections. The face is modelled
with lively realism and outstanding
technical mastery. The hair,
eyebrows and beard were carved
on the wax model with different
techniques and tools: a pointed knife
to separate the locks of hair, a toothed
tool to carve the eyebrows and a
quill-shaped tool for the beard. All
the details were then finished with
chisels and punches after the bronze
was cast.
Portrait of a Man
50–25 BCE
bronze, copper, marble
Copenaghen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
This head reportedly emerged from
the bottom of a well in Megara,
Attica, in 1925. The sitter’s identity
is uncertain, though he may have
been a Roman military commander to
whom the citizens of Megara erected
an equestrian statue in a public
place. Hellenistic elements such as the
dynamic movement and rich modelling
of the facial details dominate the
statue, while the curls on the forehead
herald the forkand- pincer-lock motif
adopted in Augustus’s official image.
Bust of a Man (Lucius
Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus
Pontifex)
Late first century BCE–early first
century CE
bronze
Naples, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
The sitter has been identified as Lucius
Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (48
BCE–32 CE), a man of letters who
held high office under Augustus and
Tiberius, also serving as praefectus
urbi from 13 CE until his death. The
bust harks back to the naturalism
of Roman Republican art, merging
severitas (severity) with gravitas
(dignity). The technical skill and
expressive power belong to the
Hellenistic tradition, but the statue also
echoes certain stylistic features found
in earlier Italic portraits.
22
23
The Art of
Replication
One important characteristic distinguishing bronze
sculpture from other media is its reproducibility. The
prevailing use of indirect casting techniques designed
to preserve the artist’s prototype indicates that multiple
bronze versions of the same statue would have been the
norm in antiquity, not the exception. Statues honouring
victorious athletes, for instance, are likely to have been
commissioned in a first edition of two: one for dedication
in the sanctuary where the competition was held and the
other for display in the winner’s home town.
These sculptures include the image of an athlete holding a
strigil, often referred to as the Apoxyomenos – Greek for
“scraping himself”. These are, however, copies of a statue
created in the 300s BCE, probably a prominent sculptor’s
work so famous that it was still being reproduced two or
three centuries later.
Statue of an Athlete
(Apoxyomenos from
Ephesos)
1–50 CE
bronze
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Antikensammlung
This statue was broken into 234
fragments when it was found in
the Baths-Gymnasion of the Port of
Ephesos in 1896. In its restoration – a
true breakthrough for the period – a
plaster cast of a marble statue of
the same type in the Uffizi served as
a model. The bronze is thought to
be an early Imperial era copy of a
late 4th century BCE Greek original
attributed alternatively to the school of
Polykleitos, to Daidalos or to Lysippos.
Statue Base with a
Dedicatory Inscription
Late first century CE
marble
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Antikensammlung
The fragmentary inscription on this
base preserves only the names of
those who dedicated it, with no
information about the statue.
It was initially thought to depict
an athlete cleaning his skin (the
literal meaning of apoxyomenos)
but scholars now think that he was
cleaning the utensil used to wipe
away his perspiration by passing the
fingers of his left hand over the blade.
24
25
Head of an Athlete (Ephesos
Apoxyomenos type)
Second century BCE–first century CE
bronze
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum
This head was part of a statue or bust
of the Apoxyomenos of Ephesos type.
The debate over attribution to this
type is still ongoing because we know
that Lysippos was only one of many
sculptors to depict figures “cleansing
themselves.” Its state of conservation is
excellent, the head
being one of the few ancient items
never to have been buried, or only
for a short time. A bronze bust was
made, possibly by the Lombardo
family, in the Veneto in the early 16th
century to support the head.
Statue of an Athlete
(Ephesos Apoxyomenos
type)
Second century CE
marble
Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi
Mentioned by Vasari in 1568, this
figure is the result of restoration in the
Renaissance when a vase, possibly
antique but not part of the original
composition, was added. No other
sculptural versions were available
and the addition reflects what was
known at the time, thus the restorer
reconstructed the figure not as an
apoxyomenos but as an oil pourer,
depicting the moment before the race
or training session rather than the
cleansing of the body afterwards.
26
Torso of an Athlete
(Ephesos Apoxyomenos
type)
First century CE
basanite
Castelgandolfo, Musei Vaticani, Villa
Pontificia, Antiquarium
This torso was found some time
between 1930 and 1932 in
the garden of Villa Barberini in
Castelgandolfo, in the area of
Domitian’s imperial villa, so it may be
dated to the Flavian era (69–96 CE)
or earlier.
Basanite, an exotic hard stone
common in Egypt even before the
dynastic period, was used in Imperial
Roman sculpture to produce copies
of famous Greek bronzes because its
dark, reflecting surface imitated the
metal.
Statue of a boy pulling
a Thorn from his Foot
(Castellani Spinario)
c. 25–50 CE
marble
Londra, The British Museum
Unearthed in Rome in 1874, the
Castellani Boy with Thorn differs from
the other seven known versions in
that the body is softer and its facial
features more realistic, although not to
the point of becoming a portrait.
It differs from the bronze Boy with
Thorn in the Museo Capitolino
precisely in the character of the head,
and thus it is based directly on a
Hellenistic original – in bronze or in
marble – to which the sculptor turned
when modelling this Roman copy.
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Divine
Beings
Images of divinities, an important genre in Archaic
and Classical Greek sculpture, remained significant
in the Hellenistic period, especially as new shrines
were established in new cities and wider contact with
peoples outside and on the periphery of the Hellenistic
world encouraged the development of new artistic
traditions. The expressive capabilities of bronze as
a medium and the dynamic new styles of Hellenistic
sculpture were adapted to depict divine, but nonetheless
anthropomorphic, beings. Indeed, it seems to have been
expected that the gods be depicted in the most up-to-date
manner, and thus their images, like those of mortals,
sometimes became less ideal and more “realistic”. The
gods were now thought of and depicted more as living
beings, with changing physical and emotional states, and
their images often seem less imposing and less detached
from humans than Classical ones.
Athena (Minerva of Arezzo)
300–270 BCE
bronze, copper
Florence, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
Found in a well in an early imperial
era residence in Arezzo in 1541,
this statue of the goddess of war and
wisdom entered Cosimo I de’ Medici’s
collection of antiquities in 1551 and
adorned the duke’s writing desk after
1559. This is a rare Hellenistic variant
of a statue of the school of Praxiteles,
which can be dated to 340–330
BCE and of which at least twenty-five
copies have survived.
Medallion with the Bust
of Athena
c. 150 BCE
bronze, white glass paste
Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum
Unearthed in what are probably the
remains of the palace of the kings of
Macedon in Thessaloniki in 1990,
this medallion must have adorned a
luxurious parade chariot, the holes
allowing it to be fixed to the front of
the chariot. The goddess is portrayed
in accordance with an iconographical
type known as Athena Promachos –
“she who fights in the front line” – her
helmet sporting the head of Medusa,
expressing both power and pathos
thanks to its power to turn people to
stone with its gaze.
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Head and Hand of
Aphrodite (?)
First century BCE
bronze
London, The British Museum
Discovered in Satala (in what used
to be Armenia Minor and is now
north-eastern Turkey) in 1872, these
two fragments are all that remains of
a monumental statue, probably of a
goddess. Already spoiled in ancient
times, they were further damaged by
the pick or plough of the farmer who
discovered them in 1872. The figure
has been identified as Aphrodite
because her left hand held drapery,
echoing Praxiteles’s celebrated 4th
century BCE marble Aphrodite of
Knidos.
Head of Apollo
First century BCE–first century CE
bronze
Salerno, Museo Archeologico
Provinciale
Found by fishermen in the Gulf of
Salerno in 1930, this head must
have belonged to a larger than life
size statue. In the Etruscan region of
Latium and Campania, where the cult
of Apollo was widespread, numerous
coastal settlements were built for the
aristocratic classes who, from the
late republican and early Augustan
era onwards, began to assimilate,
and to identify with, the ideals of
the Classical world embodied by
Hellenistic models.
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Retrospective
Styles
Although retrospection, or the quoting of earlier forms
and styles for programmatic ends, appears
to date back to the 5th century BCE, late Hellenistic
sculptors employed and adapted Archaic and Classical
features, often eclectically, to recall the art of earlier
periods. Throughout the 2nd century BCE, victorious
Roman generals took original Greek art back to Rome,
parading it in triumphal processions, or erecting it in civic
spaces or in their own homes, and they were emulated by
those aspiring to higher status. To satisfy an eager market,
Greek artists flocked to Rome and created new works in
older styles, not only for antiquarian collectors but also to
evoke the religious piety of a bygone age. The Classical
style was favoured by the Emperor Augustus for much of
his official art
as it recalled the “Golden Age” of Periklean Athens. It
also became popular in domestic contexts, such as villa
gardens. The quality of these retrospective works is often
extremely high, and their technical virtuosity as well as
their stylistic eclecticism are emblematic of Hellenistic
sculpture.
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Statue of Apollo (Piombino
Apollo)
120–100 BCE
bronze, copper, silver
Paris, Musée du Louvre, département
des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et
romaines
Statue of Apollo (Kouros)
First century BCE–first century CE
bronze, copper, bone, dark stone,
glass
Pompeii, Soprintendenza Speciale
per i Beni Archeologici di Pompei,
Ercolano e Stabia
This statue has the typically stiff stance
of an archaic kouros, or youth, but the
modelling of the back, the treatment
of the hands and feet and the
elaborate, if unrealistic, rendering of
the hair show a combination of styles
employed at the end of the Hellenistic
period and to the archaising taste
beloved of the Romans in the early
Imperial era. The position of the
fingers allows us to reconstruct the
figure’s lost attributes (a phiale or cup,
and a bow), identifying him as the
god Apollo.
Found in the dining room of the House
of Caius Julius Polybius in Pompei in
1977, this statue’s stiff pose, its left
foot forward like an archaic Greek
kouros, is at odds with a musculature
more naturalistic than is usually found
in genuine 6th century BCE archaic
sculpture. The sculptural type, often
used to depict the god Apollo, was
transformed in the course of an
ancient restoration into an oil-lamp
holder. The two kouroi are displayed
here in close proximity for the first
time.
Three Fragments of an
inscribed tablet (Piombino
Apollo)
lead
Paris, Musée du Louvre, département
des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et
romaines
An inscription was discovered inside
this statue and removed through its
eyes during restoration in 1842.
The small, square lead token was
divided into fragments, its letters
forming the truncated names of the
statue’s two sculptors, one of whom
was from Rhodes. The archaeologist
who discovered the inscription,
however, was accused of forging it
and the fragments vanished. They only
resurfaced in 2010, when they were
recognised as authentic.
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Crown and Tendrils
of the Apollo (Kouros)
bronze
Pompei, Soprintendenza Speciale
per i BeniArcheologici di Pompei,
Ercolano e Stabia
Original decorative elements are on
display in the adjacent showcase.
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Torso of a Youth
(The Vani Torso)
Second century BCE
bronze
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum
Discovered in ancient Vani (western
Georgia) in 1988, this torso is
probably a Hellenistic work fashioned
in an antiquated style to imitate the
appearance of an early Classical
statue. The presence of a 3rd–2nd
century BCE casting pit outside Vani
suggests that it and other bronzes
unearthed there were not imported
but made locally. The statue’s identity
is uncertain, but the combination of
mature muscularity and adolescent
sensuality would suit a depiction of
Apollo.
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Ephebe (Idolino from
Pesaro)
c. 30 BCE
bronze, copper, lead
Renaissance base
Aurelio, Ludovico and Girolamo
Solari, called Lombardo, perhaps after
a drawing by Sebastiano Serlio
1530–8/40
bronze, silver inlays
Florence, Museo Archeologico
Nazionale
Unearthed in several pieces in Pesaro
in 1530, this statue was restored and
identified as the young Dionysos.
The sculpture is an oil-lamp holder
made by a central or southern Italian
workshop in the early Augustan era
and used to light the banquets of a
patrician family.
Formerly considered the most perfect
Greek statue, it is in fact an eclectic
work, possibly a copy of a lost late
work by Polykleitos.
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Fragmentary Head of an
Ephebe (Idolino type)
25 BCE–15 CE
basanite
Città del Vaticano, Musei Vaticani,
Museo Gregoriano Profano
This head, which belonged to the
German art historian Johann Joachim
Winckelmann, is in basanite, a
material used in ancient Egyptian
sculpture and favoured by 1st century
BCE Roman sculptors to imitate
bronze. It was in effect a more
luxurious alternative, considering the
price of the raw material and the effort
demanded to carve this extremely
hard stone, as reproducing the
aesthetic as well as the formal style of
a sculpture while converting it into a
different material required skill in the
art of illusion.
Bust of an Ephebe
(Beneventum Head)
c. 50 BCE
bronze, copper
Paris, Musée du Louvre, département
des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et
romaines
This bust, cut at the join of the
shoulder from the outset, originally
was set atop a herm shaft. Discovered
in Herculaneum, it once graced a villa
destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius.
Related to the Florence Idolino, it has
been interpreted as a “classicising
creation imbued with the lesson
of Polykleitos” on account of the
melancholy expression of the face, the
contrast between the painterly aspect
of the fringe and smooth surface of the
skin, and the way the hair falls freely
around the neck.
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Herm of Dionysos
(Getty Herm)
Workshop of Boëthos of Kalchedon
(attributed)
Second century BCE
bronze, copper, calcitic stone
Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum
The “turban” identifies this herm
as Dionysos. Herms – scaled-down
figures of protecting divinities – were
used as boundary stones decorated
with stylised images of the gods (the
phallus serving to ward off evil).
Dionysos is shown here in archaizing
fashion as an old and mysterious god.
Herm of Dionysos
(Mahdia Herm)
Boëthos of Kalchedon (active early
to mid-second sentury BCE)
Second century BCE
bronze
Tunis, Musée National du Bardo
This herm, signed by its sculptor –
“Boëthos of Kalchedon made this” –
is the only ancient bronze sculpture
for which we have both an original
autograph work and other versions.
The two Herms of Dionysos are
displayed together here for the very
first time.
They are almost identical in type and
size, based on the same model and
made with the same indirect lost wax
hollow casting technique. They differ
in their state of conservation, their
surface condition and the preparation
of the wax model.
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Texts
Ludovica Sebregondi
Editorial coordination
Ludovica Sebregondi
Manuela Bersotti
Translations
Stephen Tobin
Graphic design
RovaiWeber Design
This publication brings together
the explanatory texts of the exhibition
Power and Pathos.
Bronze Sculpture of
the Hellenistic World
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi
14 March–21 June 2015
curated by
Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin
Promoted ed organised by
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
J. Paul Getty Museum
National Gallery of Art di Washington
with the collaboration of
Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici
della Toscana
With the support of
Comune di Firenze
Camera di Commercio di Firenze
Associazione Partners Palazzo Strozzi
Regione Toscana
With the contribution of
Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze
Under the High Patronage of
the President of the Italian Republic
With the patronage of
Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività
Culturali e del Turismo
Ministero degli Affari Esteri
Consulate General of the United
States of America in Florence
Expo Milano 2015
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Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
Piazza Strozzi, 50123 Firenze
www.palazzostrozzi.org