The sculpture from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum illuminates the taste and refinement of a particular collector as he amassed a collection of statues based upon Greek prototypes, both in bronze and marble. The marble Amazon head, based on an original by either the sculptor Kresilas or Polyclitus, shows a sensitive modeling that belies the hardness of the stone from which it is carved. The archaic features of the statue of Apollo from the House of the Menander highlight that particular collector’s pronounced taste for the antique—the sculpture is carved in a style that is reminiscent of the kouros statues of young men produced in the 6th Century B.C. in Greece. The finely wrought bronze Apollo from the House of Julius Polybius in Pompeii, also a piece with archaic features, illustrates the esteem with which such sculpture was regarded. Although damaged in antiquity, this sculpture was reused and recycled into a decorative stand upon which an oil lamp would be placed.

Pictorial Arts