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Wells Cathedral - Somerset

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Marble statue of a draped, seated man. The statue, signed by its sculptor Zeuxis, is a 1st century BCE (Roman-era) copy of a Greek original believed to have been made in the mid-2nd century BCE (late Hellenistic period). The identity of the man portrayed is impossible to ascertain with certainty, but it has been suggested, based upon his posture, that he was originally shown playing the kithara (lyre); if this is true, he may have been a poet or rhapsode.

Wealthy Roman aristocrats had a taste for Greek sculpture that accelerated dramatically following the sack of Corinth in 146 BCE, when the victorious general Lucius Mummius brought back huge numbers of looted art objects to Rome. As we know from letters written by Cicero to his friend Atticus, at least some Romans of the late Republic regarded Greek statues as essential features of a tastefully decorated home, even if (as in Cicero's case) they were less than particular about which statues they purchased. Sculptural programs were sometimes keyed to different areas of the home: Dionysus/Bacchus in a triclinium (where drinking parties were held), Heracles/Hercules in a workout area, etc. To meet this steady demand, sculptors in the Greek-speaking world began to specialize in the art of reproduction, copying famed Greek bronzes into marble. The otherwise unknown Zeuxis who signed this statue was likely such an entrepreneur.

Until the last few decades of the twentieth century, historians of ancient art generally regarded Roman copies as purely derivative and unworthy of serious study in their own right. Instead, using a method known as Kopienkritik (German="copy criticism"), they attempted to reconstruct (e.g.) Myron's famous Discobolus by comparing all the extant versions of it. The tide has since turned, and many scholars now champion the merits of these once-dismissed works. They note that copyists were ingenious in their adaptations of bronze originals to the very different medium of stone, and that the interaction of Greek artworks with Roman domestic environments gave copies meanings that their originals lacked.

Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA. Photo credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art.