Torso of Doryphoros

Phidias and Polyclitus are the sculptors whose works had the most lasting influence in the short high-Classical period (ca. 450 – 420 BC) in Greece. Polyclitus was born in the city of Argos in the northern Peloponnese. His most famous statue was the “Doryphoros” (“Spear Bearer”), which perhaps depicted the hero Achilles. The bronze original was lost, but numerous Roman copies survived. The present statue depicts the athletic figure of a naked youth, who seems to have paused in mid-step. His weight rests on his right leg, while the left trails behind, touching the ground only with the toes. His right arm hangs freely, while the hand of his bent left forearm holds a spear. His head is turned slightly to the right. In his “Doryphoros” Polyclitus uses contrapposto, suggesting action and reaction, tension and relaxation, in a purposeful and exemplary manner. The written sources mention a theoretical work by Polyclitus, the “Canon” (Greek: Kanon), a name that was probably also used in antiquity for the statue of the Doryphoros. Exact measurement of the human body led Polyclitus to a system of proportions and numbers for the parts of the body that resulted in a symmetry, which in his opinion was responsible for the harmony and beauty of a work. The torso was acquired in 1824 from the collection of the Viennese eye specialist Joseph Barth. It has more slender proportions and less sculptural modelling of the musculature than may be assumed of the bronze original. In contrast to bronze statues, marble copies required cross-pieces and supports because of their great weight, and also to protect exposed parts of the body from breaking. Traces of cross-pieces to support the two arms are found over the left hip and the right thigh, which has at the back the remainder of a large support (tree-stump? with the remnant of a garment). Dowel holes on the right upper arm suggest that the statue may have been repaired in antiquity. © Kurt Gschwantler, Alfred Bernhard-Walcher, Manuela Laubenberger, Georg Plattner, Karoline Zhuber-Okrog, Masterpieces in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities. A Brief Guide to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2011