Westmacott Youth - II
WStatue of a youth, a Roman marble replica of a Greek bronze statue of about 440BC.
. He stands on the left leg, with the body thrown rather forward, and the right foot dragging behind. The head, which is of an ideal type, with short curly hair, looks downwards, and to the right. The left arm hangs by the side. The right arm, which was separately attached, is wanting from the middle of the deltoid. The stem of a palm-tree is by the left leg. The figure is very pleasing, but there is an undue exaggeration of sentimentality in the pose. In parts the execution is weak, as in the conventional treatment of the central line down the body. The separating line between the abdomen and the thigh, which is always accentuated in the antique, is here greatly exaggerated.
The question of the school and correct restoration of the figure has been much discussed. It has been restored as a youth placing a fillet or a wreath upon his head, and has thus been connected with the statue of the youth Kyniskos, a victorious boy boxer at Olympia (460 B.C. ?). The boy has also been restored as holding a strigil to his hair which seems an unsuitable and improbable position. He has been interpreted as a Narkissos of the school of Myron, who raises his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes, while admiring his own reflection in a pool of water. The subject, however, is improbable, and a figure in this position could not see itself reflected in water. The figure has also been regarded, without evidence, as the "nudus talo incessens " of Polycleitos mentioned by Pliny. Lately it has been suggested that the exaggerations and defects noted above mark the work of an eclectic school, such as that of Pasiteles, and that the composition seems to call for a second figure to complete it on the left.
Source: “A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek Roman Antiquities - British Museum” by A.H. Smith
Marble statue - Not on display
Height: 150 cm.; Width: 61 cm
Roma copy 1st century AD
London, The British Museum – Inv. no. 1857,0807.1
Westmacott Youth - II
WStatue of a youth, a Roman marble replica of a Greek bronze statue of about 440BC.
. He stands on the left leg, with the body thrown rather forward, and the right foot dragging behind. The head, which is of an ideal type, with short curly hair, looks downwards, and to the right. The left arm hangs by the side. The right arm, which was separately attached, is wanting from the middle of the deltoid. The stem of a palm-tree is by the left leg. The figure is very pleasing, but there is an undue exaggeration of sentimentality in the pose. In parts the execution is weak, as in the conventional treatment of the central line down the body. The separating line between the abdomen and the thigh, which is always accentuated in the antique, is here greatly exaggerated.
The question of the school and correct restoration of the figure has been much discussed. It has been restored as a youth placing a fillet or a wreath upon his head, and has thus been connected with the statue of the youth Kyniskos, a victorious boy boxer at Olympia (460 B.C. ?). The boy has also been restored as holding a strigil to his hair which seems an unsuitable and improbable position. He has been interpreted as a Narkissos of the school of Myron, who raises his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes, while admiring his own reflection in a pool of water. The subject, however, is improbable, and a figure in this position could not see itself reflected in water. The figure has also been regarded, without evidence, as the "nudus talo incessens " of Polycleitos mentioned by Pliny. Lately it has been suggested that the exaggerations and defects noted above mark the work of an eclectic school, such as that of Pasiteles, and that the composition seems to call for a second figure to complete it on the left.
Source: “A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek Roman Antiquities - British Museum” by A.H. Smith
Marble statue - Not on display
Height: 150 cm.; Width: 61 cm
Roma copy 1st century AD
London, The British Museum – Inv. no. 1857,0807.1