Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome. It was found in 1885, together with the Boxer at Rest, on the Quirinal Hill, probably near the Baths of Constantine during the construction of the National Theatre. The two statues were however not part of an ensemble, being of different dates. There are significant debates on who is the person pictured, the original attribution to a Hellenistic prince being now rejected in favour of a Roman general—possibly Scipio Aemilianus
, although there have been other suggestions.
Description
Experimental reconstruction of Boxer and Terme Ruler by Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project, Liebieghaus 2021
The statue was cast using a
lost wax process
. The eyes were put in their sockets later, but are now lost.
It represents a naked young man with a light beard, reclining on a spear in an heroic pose, which is taken from
^Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann: Die sogenannten Quirinalsbronzen und der Faustkampf von Amykos mit dem Argonauten Polydeukes. Ein archäologisches Experiment. In: Vinzenz Brinkmann (ed.): Medeas Liebe und die Jagd nach dem Goldenen Vlies. Exhibition catalogue Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt 2018. Hirmer, Munich 2018, p. 80-97.
Filippo Coarelli, "La doppia tradizione sulla morte di Romolo e gli auguracula dell'Arx e del Quirinale", Gli Etruschi e Roma: atti dell'incontro di studio in onore di Massimo Pallottino, Rome, 1981, pp. 173–188.
Jean-François Croz, Les portraits sculptés de Romains en Grèce et en Italie de Cynoscéphales à Actium (197-31 av. J.C.). Essai sur les perspectives idéologiques de l’art du portrait, Paris, 2002.
Stefan Lehmann, "Der Thermenherrscher und die Fußspuren der Attaliden. Zur olympischen Statuenbasis des Q. Caec. Metellus Macedonicus", Nürnberger Blätter zur Archäologie, XIII, 1997, pp. 107–130.
