Alexander The Great Sculpture Essay

Hellenistic art was propelled and conducted under the vast expansion of the Greek world under Alexander the Great in the late fourth century B.C. During this era, bronze, cast from alloys of copper, tin, lead, and other elements, was employed tremendously for dynamic compositions, displays of the nudity, and graphic expressions of individual identities. Surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective characteristics, and capability of embracing the finest details, bronze statues were produced in thousands and served as vehicles for the transmission of culture and technology through trade, migration, emulation and plunder. However, only a small number of those have survived and are dispersed worldwide and displayed as masterpieces. Two
It was discovered in 1996 near the Croatian island of Losini in the northen Adriatic Sea. Both this statue and the Ephesian Apoxyomenos reproduce the same late-fourth-centruy B.C. work, but this replica is better-preserved. On contrary to the small-scaled Alexander the Great sculpture, the athlete sculpture is slightly over life-size by ancient standards. Produced in the first century B.C., it is composed of bronze and copper. The mature, but youthful man stands upright with his weight on the right leg and the left foot set to the side with heel raised with an overly muscular chest and wide shoulders. The smoothly idealized face has wide cheekbones and a rather short chin with copper accentuating the lips and nipples. The most distinct feature of the head is the hair. The rows of smaller and finely chiseled strands surrounding the forehead are swept in different directions, creating a realistically disheveled look of an athlete who has just finished his competition. The most noticeable difference from the Ephesian statue is the position of the head, which is not turned to the left, is inclined further forward, and is somewhat tilted. As a result, the figure’s gaze does not meet the