Statue of a Youth

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Statue of a Youth

Place of OriginTurkey (according to unverified notes)

Datemid-2nd to early 3rd century CE (Severan?)

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D, sculpture only): 56 1/8 × 17 × 16 in. (142.6 × 43.2 × 40.6 cm)

MediumBronze, cast using the indirect method.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1966.126

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionLife-sized bronze statue of a slender youth. The figure stands on the right foot with the left trailing behind, creating a prominent hip thrust. The left arm is extended with an open palm, and the right arm is missing below the shoulder. The head tilts slightly right, with short, neatly curled hair. Incised almond-shaped eyes with marked pupils and irises. Surface striations and flow welds evident in the metalwork.

Label TextYouthful and handsome, this life-sized bronze statue of an adolescent boy represents Roman admiration of ancient Greek sculpture. Although the Greeks—specifically the famous sculptor Polykleitos—idealized the athletic male figure, the Romans preferred functionality over form. This almost beckoning youth may have carried lamps in his hands to light a garden or a dining room in a private villa. Made by hollow-casting bronze, the youth’s form was assembled from separately cast body parts fastened and soldered together. This technique allowed a busy workshop to produce sculptures with greater efficiency.Published ReferencesThe Toledo Museum of Art, "Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1969, repr.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 75, no. 1214, March 1970, p. 3.

"Outstanding Exhibitions," Apollo, vol. 91, no. 98, April 1970, p. 300.

Vermeule, Cornelius, Polykleitos, Boston, 1969, p. 23ff, 46, repr. figs. 20 a-f, (col. det.), cover.

Owsley, David T., "Graeco-Roman marble figure of a youth," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 46, no. 1, Jan. 1972, p. 21, repr. fig. 7.

Nicholls, R.V., "Notices of Books," review of Die Polvkletnachfolge: Untersuchungen zur Kunst von Argos und Sikyon Zwischen Polyklet und Lysipp, by D. Arnold; Journal fo Hellenic Studies, vol. 93, 1973, p. 266.

Zanker, Paul, Klassizistische Statuen, Mainz am Rhein, 1974, pp. 37, 67, repr. taf. 33, 5.

Vermeule, Cornelius, Greek and Roman sculpture in America, Berkeley, 1981, p. 21, 50, repr. with detail and repr. (col.) pl. 5.

Jones, Susan C., "Dating the Toledo Youth, Evidence for a Third Century, C.E. Roman Workshop" unpublished M.A. Thesis, [Bryn Mawr], 1990, entire work.

Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo, Hellenistic Sculpture III, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1990, p. 204.

Jones, Susan C., “The Toledo Bronze Youth and East Mediterranean Bronze Workshops,” Journal of Roman Archaeology, vol. 7, 1994, pp. 243–256.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 49, repr. (col.).

Picon, Carlos A., "Polykleitan and related sculptures in American collections: recent acquisitions," in Moon, Warren, ed., Polykleitos, the Doryphoros and tradition, Madison, WI, 1995, p. 230, 245, no. 24, fig. 13.2.

Mattusch, Carol C., Classical Bronzes: The Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary, Ithaca, 1996, p. 210, no. 52.

Heilmeyer, Wolf-Dieter, Der Jüngling von Salamis, Mainz, Philipp von Zabern, 1996, p. 43.

Mattusch, Carol C., The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums,1996, no. 24, pp. 232-236, repr. no. 24 a-l, repr. (col.) cover.

Duncan, Sally Anne, Otto Wittmann: Museum Man for All Seasons, Toledo, 2001, p. 16.

Vermeule, Cornelius, "Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian)," The Celator, vol. 19, no. 6, June 2005, pp. 6-14, fig. 2, p. 8.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 85, repr. (col.).

Mattusch, Carol C., Enduring Bronze: Ancient Art, Modern Views, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2014, p. 28, repr. (col.) p. 29.

Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Cambridge, Arthur M. Sackler Museum; Tampa, Tampa Museum of Art; The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections, 1996-1997.

Comparative ReferencesSee also (for technique) Kurt Kluge, Karl Lehmann-Hartleben, Die Antike Grossbronzen, 3 vols. Berlin and Leipzig, 1927, I, pp. 130-133, 165 et seg. et passim.