Statue of an Athlete Italy, Roman | Cleveland Museum of Art

Statue of an Athlete

1–100 CE

Italy, Roman

Overall: 173.9 cm (68 7/16 in.)

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1924.1046

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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.