Borghese Poet
- Title:
- Borghese Poet
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
1st to 2nd c. CE (Roman copy)
late 3rd to 2nd c. BCE (Hellenistic original)
2008 (image)
- Site:
- Villa of Brutius Praesens, Monte Calvo (near Rieti), Italy (discovery site) (original)
- Location:
- Warehouse
Villa of Brutius Praesens, Monte Calvo (near Rieti), Italy (discovery site) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0115
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 307
115 - File Name:
- CCC_0115.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 163 (H) cm (complete statue)
- Culture:
- Roman, after Hellenistic Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Hellenistic Greek
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Archilochus
Poets, Greek, in art - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 130 (without socle) x 143 (with socle) (centimeters, height x height)
socle: 70 (centimeters, width) - Description:
- This is a cast of the seated male in the philospher/poet pose known as the Borghese Poet, once in the Borghese Collection and now housed in Copenhagen. The subject has been tentatively identified as the seventh century BCE Parian poet Archilochos, but Pindar and Alkaios have also been suggested. Several copies of the head are known (see, for example, BM 1839,0806.2 and 1873,0820.728), attesting to the fame of the figure represented. As complete, the aged, full-bearded, semi-draped poet sits on a backed chair with lion's claws playing his lyre. Cornell's cast is damaged but still largely complete, with the head, upper sternum and top of left shoulder, lyre, and right foot all broken away from the seated body but accounted for. This record represents the seated body of the poet. He sits with his legs crossed at the sandalled feet, draped from the waist down in a heavy himation with obvious chisel marks. His arms are muscular, but the flesh of his chest and belly sag with age. His right arm crosses his lap to support a lyre (broken away in this cast) to which he reaches up with his left hand. This cast retains restorations to the object that have subsequently been removed. Among these are the lyre, the fingers on the left hand, the top of the poet's head, parts of his beard, and part of the left lion's foot.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1563 - Bibliography:
- Brunilde S. Ridgway, "An issue of methodology: Anakreon, Perikles, Xanthippos," AJA 102 (1998), 717-38
Gisela Richter, The Portraits of the Greeks, vol. I (London: Phaidon Press, 1965), 66-68, figs. 231,232, 234, 237 - Related Work:
- ID nos. 115, 115a, 115b, 386, and 455 belong together.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (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.