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Kritios Boy, full figure, frontal view

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Kritios Boy, full figure, frontal view from right

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Kritios Boy, head, frontal view

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Kritios Boy, full figure, left profile

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Kritios Boy, full figure, face-on

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Kritios Boy, head, face-on

Collection: Athens, Acropolis Museum
Title: Kritios Boy
Context: From Athens, Acropolis
Findspot: Excavated at Athens, Acropolis. (The torso was found in 1865 while excavating the foundations of the museum; the head twenty-three years later between the museum and the Acropolis south wall. An erroneous history is often cited: see Hurwit 1989.)
Summary: Nude standing youth
Material: Marble
Sculpture Type: Free-standing statue
Category: Single sculpture
Style: Early Classical
Technique: In-the-round
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 480 BC
Dimensions: H. 1.167 m; restored H. 1.24 m
Scale: Under life-size
Region: Attica
Period: Early Classical


Subject Description:

Statue of young man. Frontal pose, weight on left leg, right leg slightly forward, with corresponding reflections throughout rest of body. Head tilted to his right and slightly down. Though a descendant of the kouros type, this statue has been thought to represent a victor. The recent identification as a hero, perhaps Theseus, is based largely on the tubular ring around which his hair is wound, since other known examples seem to be worn by gods rather than athletes, for whom a flat fillet is more appropriate. However, the nature of dedications on the Acropolis in this period — itself uncertain — is still not well understood.

Known as the Kritios Boy because of his resemblance to the famous statue of Harmodios in the group of the Tyrannicides (known through copies and molds) by the sculptor Kritios, which was erected after 480 to replace the sculpture carried off by the Persians. He is perhaps the earliest extant male statue in fully developed Early Classical style and, as such, his date is much debated. The principal argument is concerned with whether he was made before or after the Persian sack of the Acropo

Form & Style: No longer exhibits the rigidity of the kouros stance. Shift of body weight is subtly reflected throughout the body but does not imply motion. Adapted here to a figure at rest. Face has a vacant look as often in this period. Smooth regularity of features is highly idealized. Hair is shorter than in most Late Archaic kouroi. Coiffure is somewhat unusual, but clearly owes much to prototypes in bronze.

Date Description:

No proof positive for a date prior to or after the Persian sack of the Acropolis in 480. The nature of the break at the neck suggests the statue was intentionally decapitated, but this need not have been the work of the Persians. The relatively fresh surface had led most scholars to postulate a date in the 480s, damage by the Persians and eventual burial along with much other sculpture before the Periklean rebuilding program, but see Hurwit 1989 for full discussion of the various possibilities. Raubitschek has suggested a possible connection with an inscribed column and capital, but the link is uncertain, as is the date of the column itself.

Condition: Nearly complete

Condition Description: Missing left leg below knee, right foot and both lower arms including elbows. Break mended at neck. Surface in excellent condition, with only some weathering on the shoulders and buttocks.

Material Description: Parian Marble

Sources Used: Hurwit 1989; Boardman 1978a, 84; Brouskari 1974, 124-5; Ridgway 1970, 31-4; Raubitschek 1949, no. 21