DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37251#0263
SALA DEI MONUMENTI ARCAICI 31, 32 227
31. LETO FLYING FROM PYTHON WITH HER TWO CHILDREN
(pi. 85).
H. -68m. Luna marble. Unrestored. Missing: head, r. arm and shoulder,
1. arm and wrist, fragment of drapery, both children except the feet of Apollo. The
head, 1. hand and r. shoulder were attached by means of dowels, that remaining in the
neck is bronze, that for the 1. arm iron. The figure has been broken off its base and
repaired with lead. A lead fragment is also visible in the back, where perhaps a sup-
port was run in, to secure it from another fall. The blackening suggests that the
fall was caused by fire. The figure stands on a low moulded plinth, oval behind but
straight in front.
The statue represents a female figure clad in Doric c/zz'Azz with
and overfall. An ,%2it72<3/A73 falls from the shoulders behind, and sandals
are worn. This figure runs to the !. with the head turned back over the
1. shoulder in a pose which we can identify from a replica in the Museo
Torlonia (no. 68) as that of Leto escaping from the dragon Python, with
her two children, of whom Apollo on her 1. shoulder shoots back at the
pursuer. In this case all we have left of the children is the feet of Apollo
and part of his garment on the 1. shoulder. At first this type was
attributed to Euphranor: cf. Pliny, xxxiv. 77, where he mentions such a
statue of Euphranor in the temple of Concordia. But as Reisch first pointed
out, the style is too early for that artist, who flourished in the fourth century
B. c. We must therefore suppose that there was an earlier work repre-
senting the same subject at Delphi.
The type is reproduced on the coinage of various towns in Asia
Minor (Overbeck, Wzz7zyAzy/^c/^zc, iv. AA'AzA/V v. 17-20, cf. A. AA
Ccz'Mc, A^zii, 104, i6g, 200).
The workmanship is fair, but conventional. The soapy polished
marble suggests an Antonine copy.
Found on the Via Appia (?) (TVAwa AA-rcr., Ac. cz'A).
(1882), p. 77; Schreiber, .zfpcAv? (1879), pp. 69-71,
pi. I.2; Overbeck, AwziAzyA. (i889),iv,p. 372,110. 7; Atlas, pi. XXIII. 18, pp. 76-8;
Reisch, Zcyz^^yy gMr /wzyAatA zw A UTC77 (1893), pp. 151 ff. ;
Furtwangler, AW. (1893), p. 580 = AfZ*. p. 349, note 4; Sauer in Roscher, ii,
p. 1974; Reinach, ii. 417. 7; HelbigR, 982.
32. BUST OF A BOY (pi. 84).
H. -42 m. Luna marble. Restored (in plaster) : tip of nose.
The head of a young boy, turned slightly to the 1., is inserted into
the draped bust. The brows are marked by incised lines, the eyes by an
incised circle and a bean-shaped depression. The mouth is small, the lips
just parted; the ears large, outstanding and summarily treated. The hair
is rendered by small chisel strokes with the exception of one long plastic
lock, the so-called ' Horus lock', over the r. ear. The face is carefully
smoothed and polished, in contrast to the hair, which is left rough.
This custom of leaving one lock long was at first confined to
Egyptian youths of the Royal House, but later prevailed more generally,
not only among Egyptians but also among Romans. Amelung (Ha/. Cu/.
ii, P- 656) mentions the following examples: (1) bust in the Terme
Museum (Paribeni, Ac. cz'A); (2) head of boy in Vatican, -SAA: Acz' jS*zzy/z',
no. 372 (Amelung, Ac. cz'/.); (3) head of boy in the British Museum,
A. AA Aczz^z*. 1935 and pi. VI; (4) head at Petworth, M. Wyndham,
Accwz/AA? (*<?//. no. 49, p. 78 ; (g) bronze head of young man in the Bibl.
Q 2
31. LETO FLYING FROM PYTHON WITH HER TWO CHILDREN
(pi. 85).
H. -68m. Luna marble. Unrestored. Missing: head, r. arm and shoulder,
1. arm and wrist, fragment of drapery, both children except the feet of Apollo. The
head, 1. hand and r. shoulder were attached by means of dowels, that remaining in the
neck is bronze, that for the 1. arm iron. The figure has been broken off its base and
repaired with lead. A lead fragment is also visible in the back, where perhaps a sup-
port was run in, to secure it from another fall. The blackening suggests that the
fall was caused by fire. The figure stands on a low moulded plinth, oval behind but
straight in front.
The statue represents a female figure clad in Doric c/zz'Azz with
and overfall. An ,%2it72<3/A73 falls from the shoulders behind, and sandals
are worn. This figure runs to the !. with the head turned back over the
1. shoulder in a pose which we can identify from a replica in the Museo
Torlonia (no. 68) as that of Leto escaping from the dragon Python, with
her two children, of whom Apollo on her 1. shoulder shoots back at the
pursuer. In this case all we have left of the children is the feet of Apollo
and part of his garment on the 1. shoulder. At first this type was
attributed to Euphranor: cf. Pliny, xxxiv. 77, where he mentions such a
statue of Euphranor in the temple of Concordia. But as Reisch first pointed
out, the style is too early for that artist, who flourished in the fourth century
B. c. We must therefore suppose that there was an earlier work repre-
senting the same subject at Delphi.
The type is reproduced on the coinage of various towns in Asia
Minor (Overbeck, Wzz7zyAzy/^c/^zc, iv. AA'AzA/V v. 17-20, cf. A. AA
Ccz'Mc, A^zii, 104, i6g, 200).
The workmanship is fair, but conventional. The soapy polished
marble suggests an Antonine copy.
Found on the Via Appia (?) (TVAwa AA-rcr., Ac. cz'A).
(1882), p. 77; Schreiber, .zfpcAv? (1879), pp. 69-71,
pi. I.2; Overbeck, AwziAzyA. (i889),iv,p. 372,110. 7; Atlas, pi. XXIII. 18, pp. 76-8;
Reisch, Zcyz^^yy gMr /wzyAatA zw A UTC77 (1893), pp. 151 ff. ;
Furtwangler, AW. (1893), p. 580 = AfZ*. p. 349, note 4; Sauer in Roscher, ii,
p. 1974; Reinach, ii. 417. 7; HelbigR, 982.
32. BUST OF A BOY (pi. 84).
H. -42 m. Luna marble. Restored (in plaster) : tip of nose.
The head of a young boy, turned slightly to the 1., is inserted into
the draped bust. The brows are marked by incised lines, the eyes by an
incised circle and a bean-shaped depression. The mouth is small, the lips
just parted; the ears large, outstanding and summarily treated. The hair
is rendered by small chisel strokes with the exception of one long plastic
lock, the so-called ' Horus lock', over the r. ear. The face is carefully
smoothed and polished, in contrast to the hair, which is left rough.
This custom of leaving one lock long was at first confined to
Egyptian youths of the Royal House, but later prevailed more generally,
not only among Egyptians but also among Romans. Amelung (Ha/. Cu/.
ii, P- 656) mentions the following examples: (1) bust in the Terme
Museum (Paribeni, Ac. cz'A); (2) head of boy in Vatican, -SAA: Acz' jS*zzy/z',
no. 372 (Amelung, Ac. cz'/.); (3) head of boy in the British Museum,
A. AA Aczz^z*. 1935 and pi. VI; (4) head at Petworth, M. Wyndham,
Accwz/AA? (*<?//. no. 49, p. 78 ; (g) bronze head of young man in the Bibl.
Q 2