THE BRONZE BOXER
Artwork Name : The Bronze Boxer
Location : Rome in 1885
The bronze Boxer* is somewhat over life-size but so immediate it’s hard to think it’s not a “real” man and a man of total experience and exhausted but powerful, brutalized but handsome, dazed by what’s hit him but alert for whatever’s coming his way.
The bronze statue Boxer at Rest was excavated in Rome in 1885 on the south slope of the Quirinal Hill near the ancient Baths of Constantine, where it is thought to have been displayed. The statue was intentionally buried in late antiquity, possibly to preserve it against the barbarian invasions that ravaged Rome in the fifth century A.D.
The bronze statue Boxer at Rest was excavated in Rome in 1885 on the south slope of the Quirinal Hill near the ancient Baths of Constantine, where it is thought to have been displayed. The statue was intentionally buried in late antiquity, possibly to preserve it against the barbarian invasions that ravaged Rome in the fifth century A.D.
Made in the Hellenistic period, when a love of realism made a powerful advance on earlier Classical idealism, the boxer is astonishingly realistic. The Character Boxer ,Seated and near to exhaustion from a match, and bleeding from wounds all over his body, he still has the energy to turn his head.
- In his athletic nakedness, he wears only boxing gloves and a sort of athletic suspender (kynodèsme) that was both protective and an element of decorum. The many wounds to his head, the primary target in ancient Greek boxing matches, make clear that he has just completed a match.
- Blood, represented by inlaid copper, drips from cuts on his forehead, cheeks, and cauliflower ears. His right eye is swollen and bruised. His nose is broken, and he breathes through his mouth, probably because his nostrils are blocked by blood. His inwardly drawn lips are scarred, likely indicating that his teeth have been pushed in or knocked out. Despite his exhaustion, the muscles in his arms and legs are still tense, as if the battered champion were ready to spring up and face a new combatant.
The Magical Powers of the Statue
- Areas of the boxer's right foot and hands are worn from frequent touching in antiquity. The statue may have been accorded healing powers, as was known to have occurred with other statues of famous athletes. An Early Imperial vitreous paste ring stone appears to represent the same statue of a boxer sitting on a rock and may have been a talisman for the ring's owner.
Boxing in Antiquity
- Boxing was an ancient and revered sport in antiquity. Already practiced in the Bronze Age, it is recorded in the eighth century B.C. among the athletic contests performed during the funeral games of Patrokles in book 23 of Homer's Iliad.
- It was introduced into the Olympic games in 688 B.C. and became an integral competition at all the major pan hellenic sanctuaries where athletic events were held in connection with religious festivities. So popular was boxing among ancient Greek nobility, who valued it as a form of military training, that swollen ears became a mark of honor.
- In ancient Greece, the rules for boxing differ from those today. A boxer had to face one opponent after another, typically without significant pauses, and blows were dealt exclusively to the head and face.
- That conclude ,Later on, during the Roman Imperial period, the boxing gloves worn by gladiators developed into deadly weapons with sharp metal or broken glass points.
References
Hemingway, Seán. "The Boxer: An Ancient Masterpiece
Comes to the Met". New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/now-at-the-met/features/2013/the-boxer
Article , The Boxer:An Ancient Masterpiece ; At The Met
Fifth Avenue . JUNE 1–JULY 18, 2013
Smith, R. R. R. (1991). Hellenistic Sculpture. London. pp.
54–55. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_at_Rest
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