Orestes and Elektra
- Title:
- Orestes and Elektra
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Stephanos
- Photographer:
- Mihaloew, Andreya
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. late 1st c. BCE to early 1st c. CE
2015 (image)
- Site:
- Macellum at Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli), Italy (discovery site, 1750) (original)
- Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 165), Cornell University
Macellum at Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli), Italy (discovery site, 1750) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0849
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 97
sticker in front of pedestal, in part flaked off, "97"
714 - File Name:
- CCC_0849.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 150 (H) cm
- Culture:
- Roman
- Style/Period:
- Roman Early Imperial or late Hellenistic Neoclassical/Neo-Attic
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Orestes (Greek mythological figure)
Electra (Greek mythological figure) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 154 (with plinth) x 145 (without plinth) x 87 x 41 (centimeters, height x height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of the under life-size marble statue group in Naples known as the Orestes and Electra. The nude male figure, known as Orestes, stands in contrapposto placing his weight on his left leg and with his right leg resting forward. He rests his right arm at his side and holds his left forearm and hand out. Orestes looks down with a lack of expression that characterizes Greek sculpture of the Severe style. His short, wavy hair is flat at the top and banded with a thick fillet. The female figure, known as Electra, is stocky and manly in proportions. She wears a floor-length, clingy chiton that slips from her left shoulder and is loosely tied at the waist. She stands in stiff contrapposto placing her weight on her straightened left leg and resting her left hand on her hip. Drapery hangs over her wrist. Her right arm rests around Orestes' shoulders and she leans her torso slightly toward him. She looks down at the ground, also void of expression. Her wavy hair is flat at the top of her head, twisted up at the front, and banded with a thin fillet. The male figure here is known in at least seventeen copies or replicas either alone or, as here, in conjunction with other figures. Stephanos signed the figure now in the Villa Albani in Rome, known as the Stephanos Youth or Athlete, identifying himself as the student of the sculptor Pasiteles, a famous Greek sculptor of the 1st c. BCE whose workshop was at Rome. Stephanos was active in the second half of the 1st c. BCE. The figure of the male youth seen in this group was perhaps mass-produced by Stephanos and then used for different purposes and with differing identities. This group is a classicizing product of the late Hellenistic period that uses the sculptural vocabulary of the Severe style of the early Classical period. A group in the Louvre that includes the Stephanos Youth has been identified as Orestes and Pylades. The Electra here is a moderately feminized version of the Pylades figure and each holds a similar posture. This cast was conserved in winter 2014-2015. The image attached to this record is of the object as conserved. From January until July 2015, this object was exhibited in the Bartels Gallery, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, as part of an exhibition titled "Cast and Present: Replicating Antiquity in the Museum and the Academy." This cast group was conserved in winter 2014/2015.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 6006 - Bibliography:
- Renate Bol, "Die sog. Orest-Elektra-Gruppe," in Hellenistische Gruppen. Gedenkschrift für Andreas Linfert (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1999), 331-341, pls. 94-96
J. J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 172-175 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Naples, National Archaeological Museum (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.