The Mozia Charioteer, 470-460 B.C., Height 181cm, Museo G. Whitaker, Mozia. This extraordinary masterpiece of Early Classical marble statuary was discovered on Mozia, the first Phoenician colony in Sicily. It is unique within the context of fifth-century Sikeliote and Magna Graecian and even mainland Greek culture, owing to the contrast between the severe form of the head and the calligraphic rendering of the folds of the clothing, the unusual dynamism of the figure - arising principally from the torsion of the bust - and the exceptional sensuality suffusing the figure ... The subject represented in this case has been identified as an Eastern priest or deity such as Baal, whose many epithets include divine charioteer, or even Herakles-Melqart, whose iconography is well known in the East and in Cyprus. (Claire L. Lyons et al. eds, Sicily: Art and invention between Greece and Rome, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2013.)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:03:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015