Terme Boxer, 3rd–2nd century B.C. Greek, from Rome. Bronze (with base): H: 140 x W: 64 x D: 115 cm, Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Su concessione del Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo – Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’area archeologica di Roma. Photo © Vanni Archive/Art Resource, NY
“Power and Pathos” at the Getty Museum ‘Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World’ is the first major international exhibition to bring together more than 50 ancient bronzes from the Mediterranean region, 4th century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. – Getty Museum, July 28 – November 1, 2015]]>
Source: J. Paul Getty Museum
During the Hellenistic era artists around the Mediterranean created innovative, realistic sculptures of physical power and emotional intensity. Bronze —with its reflective surface, tensile strength, and ability to hold the finest details— was employed for dynamic compositions, graphic expressions of age and character, and dazzling displays of the human form.
Large-scale bronze sculptures are among the rarest survivors of antiquity; their valuable metal was typically melted and reused. Rows of empty pedestals still seen at many ancient sites are a stark testimony to the bygone ubiquity of bronze statuary in the Hellenistic era. Ironically, many bronzes known today still exist because they were once lost at sea, only to be recovered centuries later.
“Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World” is especially remarkable for bringing together rare works of art that are usually exhibited in isolation. When viewed in proximity to one another, the variety of styles and techniques employed by ancient sculptors is emphasized to greater effect, as are the varying functions and histories of the bronze sculptures. Bronze, cast in molds, was a material well-suited to reproduction, and the exhibition provides an unprecedented opportunity to see objects of the same type, and even from the same workshop together for the first time. For example, two herms of Dionysos – the Mahdia Herm from the Bardo National Museum, Tunisia and the Getty Herm were made in the same workshop and have not been shown together since antiquity.
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