The Westmacott Youth - IV
This statue was once owned by Richard Westmacott, sculptor of the figures in the pediment above the entrance of the British Museum and now it’s identified as the “Westmacott” athlete or youth.
This young athlete originally raised his right harm to a victory’s wreath on his head, now indicated only by the groove at the back of the head which held it in place.
The youth is sometimes identified as “Kyniskos” who won the boy’s boxing contest at Olympia in 460 BC and whose victory statue was said to have been made by Polykleitos. The identification as Kyniskos is made on the basis of an inscribed statue base found in the excavations at Olympia which is dated in the decade after the middle of the fifth century BC, and the fact that the foot positions of this lost bronze correspond to those of the copies.
If correct then this marble version was either inspired by the statue at Olympia, or perhaps a similar statue in the athlete’s hometown of Mantinea. Many different Roman variations of this statue survive, evidence for its great fame in the ancient world.
(source: British Museum WEB site)
A detail of the head from a different Roman copy is in Berlin Altes Museum
More detailed information here
Roman copy of a Greek bronze
Original about 430 BC
London, The British Museum
The Westmacott Youth - IV
This statue was once owned by Richard Westmacott, sculptor of the figures in the pediment above the entrance of the British Museum and now it’s identified as the “Westmacott” athlete or youth.
This young athlete originally raised his right harm to a victory’s wreath on his head, now indicated only by the groove at the back of the head which held it in place.
The youth is sometimes identified as “Kyniskos” who won the boy’s boxing contest at Olympia in 460 BC and whose victory statue was said to have been made by Polykleitos. The identification as Kyniskos is made on the basis of an inscribed statue base found in the excavations at Olympia which is dated in the decade after the middle of the fifth century BC, and the fact that the foot positions of this lost bronze correspond to those of the copies.
If correct then this marble version was either inspired by the statue at Olympia, or perhaps a similar statue in the athlete’s hometown of Mantinea. Many different Roman variations of this statue survive, evidence for its great fame in the ancient world.
(source: British Museum WEB site)
A detail of the head from a different Roman copy is in Berlin Altes Museum
More detailed information here
Roman copy of a Greek bronze
Original about 430 BC
London, The British Museum