Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum
B 219
Fragment from the End of the Right Foot of the "Mattei Amazon" Type. Baia
Plaster
Statue Body Fragment
L 11 cm, W 10.7 cm, Length of the Second Toe 6 cm
Found in 1954 in a cellar room in the Baths of Sosandra at Baiae (modern Baia). It was found among dirt fill and other casts.
Italy, Baia, Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei, 174.531
Roman Period, Copy of an Classical (ca.440 BC) or Fourth Century (ca.370) Statue
Preservation:The foot fragment of fine plaster preserves the end of the right foot from approximately the ball of the foot to the end of the toes. The big toe has broken off. The surface is well preserved. The grooves between the toes have plaster in them. There are traces of rust (which developed in the modern storage) on under side of the foot and on the four toes.
Description:The fragment belongs to a right foot which rests fully on the ground and appears to bear the weight of the statue. The toes, all of which touch the ground, are long and lean. Extending from the beginning of the toes onto the upper surface of the foot are tendons which are defined by gentle furrows on either side of them. All the toes are separated from the neighboring toes by grooves. The second toe shares with the third toe the same general shape and size. Both are long, rise slightly at the joint closest to the foot, and swell at the joints and the ends. The fourth toe follows the same pattern but is shorter. The small toe, naturally the smallest, has a raised lumpy joint near its beginning and then dips down to the nail. The outer edge of the toe comes only slightly inward from the outer edge of the foot.
The toe nails are flat and completely defined. At their base they begin in a rounded “U” shape. The top of the nail of the third, fourth, and little toes are cut horizontally; the nail of the second toe is cut more roundly. In addition, the nail of the second toe is located to the left of the center of the toe.
Discussion:This plaster cast of the front and toes of a right foot is thought to have been made from a bronze statue of the “Mattei Amazon” type (cat. C 89). At the so-called “Baths of Sosandra” at Baiae five other cast fragments, deriving from a statue of the “Mattei Amazon” type, were also found. These other fragments depict parts of the chiton, the quiver strap, the right hand, the left shin, the left knee, and the right knee.
There are eight extant statues of the “Mattei Amazon” type in marble. Of these only a statue from Tivoli and a statue in the Vatican (cat. C 89) preserve the right foot of the “Mattei Amazon” type on a full scale. The statue from Tivoli, which enabled Landwehr to recognize that the plaster hand from Baiae was the hand of the “Mattei Amazon” type, also the allowed for the identification of the fragment of the right foot as the foot of the “Mattei Amazon” type. The general placement and separation of the toes as well as their long thin form, the swelling at the ends, and the round edge of the base of the toe nail are virtually identical in the fragment from Baiae and in the marble copy from Tivoli. The marble copy from Tivoli is, however, taller, slightly wider, and lacks some of the life-like quality of the cast.
A comparison between the plaster foot fragment and the foot of the Vatican statue is not nearly as compelling and certainly would not have permitted a secure identification. The Vatican foot is higher, the toes are thicker and more uniform, and the base of the toe nails is not round. This does not mean that one should doubt the attribution of the plaster foot to the “Mattei” type but rather that one should note that the Tivoli copy of the type is more faithful to the original than the Vatican copy.
After an examination of the Baiae fragments of the “Mattei Amazon” type statue, Landwehr noted that the “Mattei Amazon” type of all the Amazon types was the most slender and had the longest and most sinewy limbs, fingers, and toes. She compared the right foot fragment to sculpture of the Early Classical or Severe Period which she thought had similar proportions. Among the statues shown in the illustrations, though not specifically mentioned in her text, are the Euthydikos Kore, Delphi Charioteer, a Lapith from the West Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and feet from the Metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Landwehr admits that the general shape of the foot seems more fluid and natural than these examples of the Severe style. Landwehr, in addition, notes that the hand of the “Mattei” type is unlike high classical examples which are generally far more round. Her final conclusion is that the Amazons are considerably different stylistically.
A point that Landwehr, who compares the foot only to fifth century sculpture overlooks, is that the style of the foot, particularly the long slim toes and the relatively straight little toe, appears in fourth century sculpture; one example is the right foot of the Apollo Sauroktonos of Praxiteles. Landwehr with her acute analysis inadvertently supports those who argue that the Amazon types were not all created in the middle of the fifth century. For instance, Harrison believes that the cast fragments from Baiae show a great stylistic affinity with the statues from Epidarous and thus, that the original statue of the “Mattei” type was made ca. 370 BC. To be sure, the carving of the feet cannot be used as the key factor in dating a statue. It is probably best to state, as Landwehr, has done that the details attested by the Baiae cast fragments show noteworthy stylistic differences between the Amazon types.
Bibliography:C. Landwehr,
"Statuenkopien der Tyrannemorder-gruppe: Die Statue des Aristogeiton in Rom" (JdI 10 1986) pp.69-70 and 74-76 no.39 pls.40 and 106 b
full description of the foot, identifies it as the foot of the "Mattei Amazon" typeR. Bol,
Amazones Volneratae. Untersuchungen zu den Ephesischen Amazonenstatuen (Mainz am Rhein 1998) p.59 and 206 III.1 f pl.107 c
listed in catalogue of all preserved renditions of the "Mattei Amazon", discussed in conjunction with stance
