Statuette of Hermes
- Title:
- Statuette of Hermes
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
XX (Roman copy)
4th c. BCE (Greek original)
- Location:
- 726 University Avenue, Cornell University
- ID Number:
- CCC_0665
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 395
395 (sticker in front)
1043 (in relief on socle)
655 - File Name:
- CCC_0665.tif
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Greek Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
bronze sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Hermes (Greek deity)
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- with socle: 16.7 x 8 x 8.6 (centimeters)
without socle: 15.2 x 8.4 x 9.7 (centimeters) - Description:
- This is a cast of a bronze statuette of Hermes seated on a rock and holding a purse in his right hand. The god, nude, sits on a rock with his left leg advanced and right leg bent back, and twists his torso slightly to his left. He rests his right arm on his right knee, holding a purse in his right hand. He extends his left arm down to support himself on a section of rock that is not included here. His left hand is missing in this cast and a wire sticks out where the hand is broken away. The original from which this cast was made remains to be located. The seated Hermes type is known most notably from a bronze copy of it discovered in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum (see ID no. 276) and from several statuettes (see, for example New York, Metropolitan no. 20.202 and, especially, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum no. VI 420). Many scholars have identified the statue type as a work in the manner of Lysippos or his school, but this remains speculative.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- Carol C. Mattusch, The Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum: Life and Afterlife of a Sculpture Collection (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005), 216-222, esp. 220-221 and notes
Paolo Moreno, Lisippo, L'Arte e la Fortuna (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), 130-139 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Unknown (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.