The Vaison Diadumenos is a life size
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
statue of an
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
found at the Roman city of
Vaison
Vaison-la-Romaine (; oc, Vaison) is a town in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
Vaison-la-Romaine is famous for its rich Roman ruins and mediaeval town and cathedral. It is also unusual in ...
, southern France. Since 1870, it has been part of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
's collection.
British Museum Collection
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Discovery
The statue known as the Vaison Diadumenos
The ''Diadumenos'' ("diadem-bearer"), together with the ''Doryphoros'' (spear bearer), are two of the most famous figural types of the sculptor Polyclitus, forming a basic pattern of Ancient Greek sculpture that all present strictly idealized ...
was discovered in the late nineteenth century in the Roman Theatre
Roman theatres derive from and are part of the overall evolution of earlier Greek theatres. Indeed, much of the architectural influence the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings. However ...
at Vaison-La-Romaine, department of Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.[the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...]
, but the national museum refused to buy it on the grounds of the exorbitant price. It was later purchased by the British Museum in 1870, where it has remained ever since.
Description
The sculpture is one of a series of Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
statues found across the empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
that were modelled on a lost original made in bronze by the sculptor Polykleitos
Polykleitos ( grc, Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Greek sculptor in bronze of the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the most important sculptors of classical antiqu ...
in about 440 BC. The Diadumenos was the winner of an athletic tournament at a games, still nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
after the contest and lifting his arms to knot a ribbon-band across his head. The Vaison statue is missing his left hand and ribbon
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...
but is otherwise in good condition. The statue would have been displayed in a prominent position in the theatre, proudly demonstrating the sophistication of the local Roman citizenry and their commitment to the ideals of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
.
See also
*Farnese Diadumenos
The Farnese Diadumenos is a 1st-century AD, slightly smaller than lifesize, Roman marble copy of Polyclitus's Diadumenos sculpture. Once in the Farnese collection, it is now in the British Museum.Accession number GR 1864.10-21.4 (Cat. Sculpture ...
, also in the British Museum
Gallery
Image:Diadumenos Vaison BM GR1870.7-2.1 n2.jpg, View of the face and body of the statue
Image:Diadumenos Vaison BM GR1870.7-2.1 n3.jpg, Close-up of the torso
Image:Diadumenos Vaison BM GR1870.7-2.1 n4.jpg, Image of the statue from another angle
Image:Diadumenos Vaison BM GR1870.7-2.1 n5.jpg, Detail of the upper part of the sculpture
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
*S. Walker, Greek and Roman Portraits (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
*S. Walker, Roman art (London, 1991)
*L. Burn, The British Museum book of Greek and Roman Art, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)
Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures in the British Museum
Roman copies of 5th-century BC Greek sculptures
2nd-century Roman sculptures
Archaeological discoveries in France