Relief of Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes
- Title:
- Relief of Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
1st c. BCE to 1st c. CE (Roman copy)
420-400 BCE (Greek original)
2008 (image)
- Site:
- Torre del Greco, Bay of Naples, Italy (discovery site) (original)
- Location:
- Warehouse
Torre del Greco, Bay of Naples, Italy (discovery site) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0036
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 345
36 (goes with No. 405) - File Name:
- CCC_0036.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 118 (H) x 100 (W) cm (complete block)
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman late Republican or early Imperial, after Greek Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in relief (original) - Subject:
- Eurydice (Greek mythology)
Orpheus (Greek mythology)
Hermes (Greek mythology) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 119.4 x 71.1 x 6.4 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of a relief of Hermes, Eurydice, and Orpheus that is housed in Naples. The complete block depicts the moment at which Orpheus, having struck a deal with Hades to retrieve Eurydice from the underworld, has turned around to look at his wife and thereby loses her forever. Hermes Psychopompos, at the viewer's left of the scene, grasps Eurydice by the arm to return her to the underworld. Cornell's cast of this relief is broken and cataloged in two principal sections with some fragments missing from the line of the break. This record represents the right two-thirds of the relief and contains the facing pair of Eurydice on the viewer's left and Orpheus on the viewer's right. Eurydice stands in three-quarter view with her head turned to profile to look into her husband's eyes. She places her weight on her straightened left leg and holds her right leg to the side in a way that suggests movement away from Orpheus. She wears a chiton with overfold that is pinned at the shoulders and a chlamys pulled up over the left (proper) half of her face as a veil. She places her left hand on Orpheus' right shoulder. The lower half of her right arm is contained in the cast's left fragment (ID no. 405). Orpheus stands posed between frontal and three-quarters with his head turned to profile. He places his weight on his right leg and appears to step away with his left. He wears a helmet-like cap, a short chiton, and a chlamys over his shoulders, and holds a lyre in his lowered left hand. He bends his right hand up to touch Eurydice's left hand, which rests on his shoulder. A nearly identical copy of this relief from the same original is held in the Louvre (Ma 854). The original is among the Three-figure Reliefs from Athens, a group of four reliefs produced in Athens in the later fifth century BCE with scenes incorporating three figures of mythological importance and known exclusively through Roman copies. The original placement of the group of reliefs is not secure, but the works have been associated with the Altar of the Twelve Gods in the Athenian Agora.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 6727 - Bibliography:
- Evelyn B. Harrison, "Hesperides and Heroes: A Note on the Three-Figure Reliefs," Hesperia 33 (1964), 76-82
P.P. Caproni and brother, Catalogue of Plaster Reproductions from Antique, Medieval and Modern Sculpture (Boston, MA, 1911), 101 - Related Work:
- ID nos. 36 (viewer's right side) and 405 (left side) belong together.
- 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.