Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth
Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth

Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth

SKU: HQ.0093

Origin: Mediterranean
Circa: Early Roman Imperial Period, 1st Century AD
Dimensions: 14" height x 18" wide x 9" depth (35.5 cm x 45.7 cm x 22.9 cm) 18" high with custom metal stand
Medium: Marble

This early Imperial Roman Marble Torso of a Heroic Male Youth, is likely Dionysos or Apollo.  The impression of this sensitively carved statue is one of strength and sensual power.  Patinated to a variety of warm ivory tones by centuries of burial, the original surface of the marble has survived, providing the viewer with an opportunity to observe just how subtly skilled the finest of the Imperial sculptors were. The God's muscles appear firm and pliable, so much so that one can sense the bones beneath the flesh of the joints.  The scale is slightly smaller than life-size and on his shoulders are remnants of the leather straps likely from the diadem around his head. Comprehensively, the technical expertise and expressionistic bent of this sculptor is extraordinary, allowing this evocative work of art to speak to us just as a well crafted sonnet or a dynamically engaged symphony orchestra.  In magnificent condition, and dramatically fragmented, this exceptional ancient artifact is worthy of any serious collection.

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Acquired on the New York Art Market. New York Private Collection, c. early 1990’s. With Antiquarium, Ltd., New York, where acquired by Dick Marconi, Los Angeles, CA in 1998. Thence by descent.

Powerfully modeled, this fragment is exemplary of the highest quality carving and technical expertise in the 1st Century AD. Rome adapted this aesthetic after conquering the Greeks and the Mediterranean world from the middle of the Third Century BC to the First Century BC. When Greek states were sacked, artistic treasures were brought back to Rome as trophies. Because of the demand, Greek sculptors emigrated to help meet the demand, and founded Neo-Attic schools where these aesthetic traditions were further developed. This particular sculpture most closely associated with a type developed by Praxiteles in the middle of the 4th Century to test the limits of realistic representation and explore human form. To that end, the taste of the era for ideal muscular youths in sculpture was quickly popularized, with the subjects of Apollo or Dionysos becoming immensely desirable.

For a similar depiction of Dionysus from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, see C. Vermeule, Greek and Roman Sculpture in America, Berkeley, 1981, p. 66, fig. 38.

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Imperial Roman Marble Torso Fragment of a Heroic Male Youth

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