Artwork Page for Statue of an Athlete

Details / Information for Statue of an Athlete

Statue of an Athlete

1–100 CE

Italy, Roman

Medium
marble
Measurements
Overall: 173.9 cm (68 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1924.1046
Public Domain
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Location
103 Roman
Print
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Did You Know?

For many years, this sculpture stood in the rotunda of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Description

This idealized athlete recalls Greek sculptural types invented and popularized during the 400s BC. Large-scale athletes and other sculptures like this were originally created by famous artists as sanctuary dedications. Centuries later, they were widely copied and adapted by Roman sculptors, whose clients sought their own versions of earlier masterpieces. Working in marble rather than bronze, these sculptors added certain elements for stability, such as the struts and the large tree trunk beside the right leg here. Sculptures like this one are profoundly complex, made by and for Romans but descended from Greek ancestors.
Life-size marble statue of a nude, muscular man leaning on his right leg, right arm bend forward with the hand broken off and left arm hanging by his side. He has short, wavy hair and a nose that juts out like a triangle from his face. A stump to the side supports the sculpture with a rectangular piece supporting the wrist of his right arm.

Statue of an Athlete

1–100 CE

Italy, Roman

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