Artwork Page for Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer

Details / Information for Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer

Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer

c. 350–200 BCE

attributed to Praxiteles

(Greek, Athenian, c. 400–330 BCE)

or Follower

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Culture
Greece, Athens
Medium
bronze, copper and stone inlay
Measurements
Overall: 14.8 x 9.4 x 3.6 cm (5 13/16 x 3 11/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
Weight: .28 kg
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2004.30.c
Public Domain
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Location
100 1916 Lobby
Print
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Did You Know?

Despite its small size, the creature was cast in two solid parts.

Description

Both snakelike and lizardlike in appearance, the creature has a scaly head and four small feet. These are attached asymmetrically to its long and sinuous body, some with carefully delineated toes, others less detailed. The smallest foot falls behind a line bisecting the creature, where radiography shows a pin joining two separately cast sections. Although the bronze of the front and back halves is quite similar, the front half shows greater porosity (air bubbles). Perhaps the original back half was damaged during casting, necessitating a new or re-casting of that portion of the creature, with a smaller, relocated fourth leg.
A bronze sculpture with a mottled green and brown patina depicts a slender, S-curved creature. Its head tapers to a point with cross-hatched incisions. A limb with three long, clawed fingers reaches upward from the body, while a second appendage projects from the lower curve. The fragmented form, inlaid with copper and stone, displays a mix of smooth surfaces and textured patches, tapering into a tail at the bottom.

Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer

c. 350–200 BCE

Praxiteles, Follower

(Greek, Athenian, c. 400–330 BCE)
Greece, Athens

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