About the Artwork
One of the standard types of sculpture adopted from the Greeks was the depiction of a victorious general or emperor as a warrior wearing the cuirass, or body armor. In the center of the breastplate is a head of the Gorgon, Medusa, presumably to instill fear in an opponent. On the shoulder straps are lightning bolts associated with the hero Hercules, and the belt at the waist is tied in a square knot called a “Hercules Knot.” The two eagle-headed griffins also suggest strength or valor. The lappets, or hanging tabs below the edge of the breastplate, are also decorated with Medusa hands.
Statue of a Man in Armor
late 2nd century CE
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Roman
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Marble
Overall: 44 1/4 × 22 1/4 × 14 1/2 inches (112.4 × 56.5 × 36.8 cm)
Sculpture
Greco-Roman and Ancient European
Founders Society Purchase, Matilda R. Wilson Fund
72.273
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
Monsignor Lestocquoy (St. Omer, France).(Michel Dumez-Onof, London, England);
1972-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bulletin of the DIA 52, no. 1 (1973): p. 48 (ill.).
"Family Art Game." The Detroit Free Press, April 26, 1981, p. 24 (ill.) [DIA Advertising Supplement].
Henshaw, Julia, ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 117 (ill.).
"Family Art Game: Dress for the Occasion," The Detroit Free Press, April 28, 1996, p. 6 (ill.) [DIA Advertising Supplement].
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Roman, Statue of a Man in Armor, late 2nd century CE, marble. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Matilda R. Wilson Fund, 72.273.
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