The bronze sculptor had a good knowledge of early classical Greek statues of youths and gods of the 5th century B.C. In the execution of the body, elements of the late austere style and the early classical period are impressively fused into a new unity. The facial expression points to models of the 5th century B.C. Roman marble works of the 2nd century A.D. also clearly show this style, as it was popular in the late reign of Hadrian. In this phase, classicism is revived.
Stylistically, the statuette was created in a workshop in Rome between 130 and 150 AD. However, a thermoluminescence analysis (1993) on the fine-grain portion of the cast core for age determination revealed an approximate age of 1968 years = ca. 25 AD. (AVS)
Permanent loan Fritz Behrens Foundation, Hannover
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