German, 19th century, After the Antique

Walther Stechow, Schloss Hohenhaus, from circa 1885;

thence by descent to the present owner.

The present sculpture is derived from the monumental ancient marble of the Belvedere Antinous, which was housed in the Belvedere garden by 1545, shortly after it was unearthed. The antique marble was first mentioned in 1543 when Pope Paul III purchased it for the Belvedere garden. It is today displayed in the Museo Pio-Clementino at the Vatican (inv. no. 907). Though traditionally identified as Hadrian's lover Antinous, the ancient model is now generally regarded as a representation of the god Hermes.

The statue’s fame quickly spread outside of Rome, and monarchs throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries commissioned their own copies. The present copy in marble is likely to be the result of the Grand Tour interest in classical antiquity, promoted in Germany by scholars such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The (broken) bronze handle on the marble's base indicates that the sculpture was formerly raised on a pedestal and could be revolved by hand.

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, London, 1981, no. 4