Statuette of a young man (NAMA 3631)
The statue of a youth with the inventory number 3631 in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens is dated to the late last century before the turn of the century.
The 65 centimeter high statue was assembled from eight parts; part of the torch that the youth is holding in his right hand is missing. There are also a few other bumps and signs of repair. The naked young, muscular man has his head turned slightly to the right and tilted slightly downwards. His hair is slightly wavy and he wears a wreath in it. The left leg is the standing -, the right, resting leg, the free leg . He carries a torch in both hands. The left arm is raised about shoulder level and sharply bent; He has put the torch over his shoulder, so the point cannot be seen. The young man holds the burning torch in his right hand straight down. She is supported on a rectangular altar adorned with garlands, which stands to the right of the young man.
It can be assumed that the young man should represent an embodiment of death. Both the torches as an addition and the small altar speak for this. The statuette is very similar to one of two slightly varying statuettes in San Ildefonso . The statuettes in Spain today were interpreted as Thanatos and Hypnos but also as Orestes and Pylades . The type of representation goes back to Polyklet , while the Roman copy itself probably goes back to a work from the Pasiteles school . The white, finely veined marble is possibly Pentelic marble . The 65 centimeter high statuette is made in the late first century BC. Dated. In 1927 the piece was confiscated in London and returned to Greece; more precise details of its origin are not known.
literature
- Nikolaos Kaltsas : Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens . The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 2002, ISBN 0-89236-686-9 , p. 316.