Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

C 043
Dresden Youth. Dresden

Marble
Statue
1.57 m with plinth, 1.51 m without plinth

Bought in 1728 from the Chigi Collection in Rome.
Germany, Dresden, Albertinum und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Skulpturensammlung

Preservation:
The left arm from the middle of the upper arm down and the right arm from the middle of the forearm down are missing. The nose and the upper lip are plaster restorations. The penis was also a plaster restoration which has been removed.

Description:
The statue depicts a naked youth who stands with his weight on his right leg. Alongside the right leg was a tree-trunk support. The left leg trails behind the right leg and the foot, the heel of which is raised, points to the left. A strut connects the left calf with the right calf. The right hip is higher than the left hip and projects outward. The right arm rests by the side of the body. There is a rectangular break surface, indicating a strut, on the outer side of the upper right thigh; this strut probably was connected to the right hand. The left upper arm is lowered but moves away from the body. Consequently the left shoulder is higher than the right shoulder. The head is turned to the left and inclined. The body is lean and the taut flesh models the anatomy. The head has a flat cranium and an oval face. The brow is low and rectangular; the cheeks are full and the chin is “U-shaped”. The eyebrows are lightly arched and the eyes are long. The upper lid is small but protrudes. The lips are full and separated by a broad groove which dips at the center. This gives the upper lip a central overhang. The hair is rendered in naturalistically interwoven layers of short locks that originate at the crown of the head in a “starfish” pattern. The locks and individual strands are delineated by fine engraved lines. The hair, which crosses the brow, has a pronounced high central part. Moreover, the locks on the brow end in small spits which curl in various directions. The hair covers the upper edge of the ear and some locks curl into the ear. At the back of the head at the height of the upper edge of the ear, there is an indented ridge.

Discussion:
The statue is a copy of a type known as the “Dresden Youth”, named after this statue. Including the Dresden statue, there are a total of three statues, ten torsos, and nine heads preserved in the type. There are fewer extant copies of this type than there are copies of the related “Westmacott Ephebe” type. The head strongly resembles the heads of Polykleitos’ “Doryphoros” and “Hermes”. The body, also recalls Polykleitan statues and again particularly the “Doryphoros”. The primary differences are that the “Dresden Youth” looks to the left and that the musculature is less defined and the body more fluid. The “Dresden Youth” also resembles “Westmacott” Ephebe type, which is its mirror reverse. Like the “Westmacott Ephebe”, the “Dresden Youth” is either classified as a late work of Polykleitos or as a work of the first generation of the “Polykleitan” school. Several scholars (Zanker, Vierneisel-Schlorb, and Willers) have wisely left the issue open. As in the case of the “Westmacott Ephebe” type, the subject and action of the original model remains unclear. A copy of the statue in the Conservatori collection in Rome appears as Eros; it wears a baldric and has slots for wings in the back. Another copy in Basel is interpreted as Thanatos by Berger. The statue type is also often hypothetically restored with a strigil on the basis of similar relief representations. The most coherent, but certainly entirely hypothetical, proposal is that of Berger. Initially he suggested that the “Dresden Youth” and the “Westmacott Ephebe” were pendant figures and corresponded to statues mentioned by Pliny (NH 34.55) in his discussion of the works Polykleitos. The “Westmacott Ephebe”, according to Berger, was the statue described by Pliny as playing at knucklebones (“talo incessentem”) and the “Dresden Youth” was that said to be cleaning himself (“destringentem se”). He further suggested that these two statues were what Pliny intended when in the following lines he spoke of playing youths (“astragalizontes”). Finally, both statues were adapted in their Roman context from statues of Hermes and Kairos, respectively the “Dresden Youth” and the “Westmacott Ephebe”. After Landwehr published a plaster cast of the right hand of the “Westmacott Ephebe” in which a knucklebone could not have been held, Berger modified his theory. He continued to see the two statues as those referred to by Pliny but conceded that possibly Pliny did not intend these two when he spoke of the playing youths. He also reinterpreted “talo incessentem” to mean standing on a knucklebone-shaped plinth. Notwithstanding Berger’s much discussed and frequently refuted theory, there is simply no solution to the question of the original subject of the type. The statue in Dresden is the most complete and finest example of the type. It shows a finely modelled body without over articulation of musculature. In addition, the hair is rendered carefully in a style that imitates bronze work.

Bibliography:
P. Zanker, Klassizistische Statuen (Mainz 1974) pp.24-25 pls.27.1,4,6; 29.5-6 considers Dresden statue best copy of type, impossible to judge about the artist of the original
E. Berger, "Zum Plinius (NH 34.55) Uberlieferten 'Nudus talo incessens' des Polyklet" (AntK 21 1978) pp.55-62 associates Wesmacatt type and Dresden type with a passage in Pliny that describes youths playing at knucklebones
E. Berger, Antike Kunstwerke aus der Sammlung Ludwig. III, Skulpturen (Mainz am Rhein 1990) pp.140-154 similar to Doryphoros, probably mythical, corresponds to Pliny's description of work by Polykleitos which was shown in the act of cleaning itself
A. Linfert, "Die Schule des Polyklet" in Polyklet: Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik (Mainz am Rhein 1990) pp.245-246 considers type of Dresden youth to post-date Polykleitos
(H. Protzmann), Die Antiken im Albertinum: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Skupturensammlung (Mainz am Rhein 1993) pp.18-19 no.4 catalogue entry
A. Linfert, "Aus Anlass neuer Repliken des Westmacottschen Epheben und des Dresdener Knaben" in Polyklet-Forschungen (Berlin 1993) pp.163-165 complete replica list
B. S. Ridgway, "Paene ad Exemplum: Polykleitos' Other Works" in Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition (Wisconsin 1995) pp.193-194 discusses type in conjunction with the Westmacott athlete, small size, turn toward free leg, adolescent appearance seem post-Polykleitan