The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

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

marble
Overall: 173.9 cm (68 7/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1924.1046
Location: 103 Roman

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.
  • R. Howard. "An Athlete Attributed to Myron." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 11, no. 9 (1924): 170-173, 180. Illus. cover. www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 61 archive.org
    Amelung, W. "Der Meister des Apollon auf dem Omphalos und seince Schule," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts XLI, Heft 3/4 (1926), pp. 247-287. Ill Taf 6-7.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 76 archive.org
    Blümel, Carl. Der diskosträger Polyklets. Berlin: W. de Gruyter & Co, 1930. Ill, p. 10, Abb. 5.
    Poulsen, Vagn Hager. “Myron: Ein stilkritischer Versuch.” In Acta Archaeologica, vol. 11. Copenhagen, 1940. p.1-42. p. 28
    Bieber, Margarete. "Greek Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art," Art in America Vol. 31 No. 3 (July 1943). Pp. 119-120, fig. 6.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 20 archive.org
    Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p .11 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 25 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 25 archive.org
  • Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).
    Art, A Means to World Understanding. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-April 10, 1949).
  • {{cite web|title=Statue of an Athlete|url=false|author=|year=1–100 CE|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.1046