DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15099#0021
10
for there are rivet-holes still remaining, which shew that one part
has been attached to the other.
There is a striking peculiarity in the working of this statue, for
Avhich it is not easy to account. The strap which passes across
the body was evidently an after thought, for it is expressed by
cutting away the marble on each side of its outline, the surface
of the belt itself having been originally the surface of the body;
it appears only in front, gradually merging into the flesh at the
right shoulder and both sides. This belt has induced some persons
to imagine that the statue represented Icarus, and that it formed
part of a group composed of that unhappy person and his father
Daedalus. It is probable that this idea was originally suggested by
a bas relief in rosso antico, in the collection of the Villa Albani, in
which Icarus is represented as a youth standing in the presence of
his father, who is fabricating the wings, which are to be attached to
his body by a broad belt, crossing upon his breast, and passing
twice round each arm.1 Although there is much in the general
appearance of the statue and the bas relief to lead to the opinion
that both may represent the same person, yet we believe that a
more minute examination of the statue will justify the denomina-
tion of Cupid, which was assigned to it when first put toge-
ther. The forms of the limbs have all that grace and elegance
which would be looked for in a statue of that deity, represented,
as we are informed he was by Praxiteles, in the character of a
youth. His hair falls in wavy curls around his shoulders, in the
manner peculiarly characteristic of Cupid, and as we see him
decorated in the beautiful torso of the Museo Pio Clementino,
vol. i. tav. xii. The belt, which has perhaps contributed more
than any thing else to obtain for this statue the name of Icarus,
does not cross upon the breast, as upon the figure in the bas relief,
but only passes diagonally across the body, one end of it being
1 Winckelman, siimmtliche Werke, von Eiselein, 12mo. Donauoschingeilj 1825.
Band viii. p. G2. Zoega. Die antiken Basrelicfe von Rom. p. .348. tab. xliv.
for there are rivet-holes still remaining, which shew that one part
has been attached to the other.
There is a striking peculiarity in the working of this statue, for
Avhich it is not easy to account. The strap which passes across
the body was evidently an after thought, for it is expressed by
cutting away the marble on each side of its outline, the surface
of the belt itself having been originally the surface of the body;
it appears only in front, gradually merging into the flesh at the
right shoulder and both sides. This belt has induced some persons
to imagine that the statue represented Icarus, and that it formed
part of a group composed of that unhappy person and his father
Daedalus. It is probable that this idea was originally suggested by
a bas relief in rosso antico, in the collection of the Villa Albani, in
which Icarus is represented as a youth standing in the presence of
his father, who is fabricating the wings, which are to be attached to
his body by a broad belt, crossing upon his breast, and passing
twice round each arm.1 Although there is much in the general
appearance of the statue and the bas relief to lead to the opinion
that both may represent the same person, yet we believe that a
more minute examination of the statue will justify the denomina-
tion of Cupid, which was assigned to it when first put toge-
ther. The forms of the limbs have all that grace and elegance
which would be looked for in a statue of that deity, represented,
as we are informed he was by Praxiteles, in the character of a
youth. His hair falls in wavy curls around his shoulders, in the
manner peculiarly characteristic of Cupid, and as we see him
decorated in the beautiful torso of the Museo Pio Clementino,
vol. i. tav. xii. The belt, which has perhaps contributed more
than any thing else to obtain for this statue the name of Icarus,
does not cross upon the breast, as upon the figure in the bas relief,
but only passes diagonally across the body, one end of it being
1 Winckelman, siimmtliche Werke, von Eiselein, 12mo. Donauoschingeilj 1825.
Band viii. p. G2. Zoega. Die antiken Basrelicfe von Rom. p. .348. tab. xliv.