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Hermes with the Infant Dionysos; Bronze Statuette in the Louvre
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
The before unpublished bronze statuette here reproduced in its original size, No. 655 of the collection of bronzes in the Museum of the Louvre, is called, by the late M. de Longpérier, ‘Nero carrying Britannicus on his left arm.’ This distinguished and meritorious archæologist herein followed a tendency prevalent in former days of readily seeing the portrait of some historical person, especially a Roman Emperor, in purely ideal monuments.
It will be seen at a glance that we have in this work a representation of Hermes with the infant Dionysos, and moreover a modified replica of the statue of Praxiteles discovered by the Germans in 1877 at Olympia. Though there are some modifications, this statuette is the closest reproduction of the work of Praxiteles of all the replicas that have come to my knowledge.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1882
References
page 107 note 1 Notice des bronzes antiques du Louvre, p. 154. Paris, 1879.
page 109 note 1 Cf. Overbeck, , Gesch. der Plastik, 3rd ed., vol. ii. p. 37Google Scholar, seq.
page 109 note 2 M. Aub. Héron de Villefosse, of the Louvre Museum, has kindly sent me the following note on this point: “Je ne vois derrière la tête de la statuette aucune couronne, ni bandeau, ni ruban. Du côté droit de la tête, cependant, on peut sentir une légère dépression, qui se continue sous la nuque et se remarque aussi à gauche; elle forme comme la trace d'un serre-tête qui aurait servi a maintenir les deux petits ailes surmontant le front. Mais cette trace est à peine visible et n'a la largeur ni d'un bandeau ni d'un ruban. C'est plutôt une dépression dans la chevelure, à la place même où le ruban devrait se trouver si l'artiste l'avait figuré.” As in the marble this band was of bronze, so in this bronze it was most likely inlaid in another material, silver (a very frequent occurrence in small ancient bronzes). The description corresponds exactly with what we see in the head of the marble statue.