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A Look at a Nude Boy from the Gym: Who is he? And what's HE looking at?
Who is this mystery boy, and what is he looking at?
 WHO IS HE? AND WHAT IS HE LOOKING AT? Here, from the sea, from a wreck, comes a bronze boy to show how graceful, clean-cut and free-flowing the unimpeded lines of a Praxitelian nude can be. Here, where the thin and hollow bronze needs neither strut nor counterweight, neither massive draped vase nor tree stump to anchor it, some close follower of Praxiteles has, with exquisite sensitivity, delicacy and charm, captured the grace and supple beauty of an adolescent boy. Portrayed as a young athlete from the gymnasium, he wears nothing but a gold-leafed headband. His limestone eyes are set with pupils of glass; his nipples are of inlaid copper. No one knows exactly who or what he is. But his headband holds a single thorn or claw, a sign worn by those who wrestled and worked out in the palaestra; it was also a sign of - Who?  The boy's gaze is fixed on something which is no longer there: In the hollow of his open palm is a pin that once held - What? |
THE ANCIENT OLYMPIEIA FESTIVAL AT ATHENS
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