Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, also known as theHermes of Praxiteles or theHermes of Olympia is anancient Greek sculpture ofHermes and the infantDionysus discovered in 1877 in the ruins of theTemple of Hera, Olympia, inGreece. It is displayed at theArchaeological Museum of Olympia.
It is traditionally attributed toPraxiteles and dated to the 4th century BC, based on a remark by the 2nd century Greek travellerPausanias, and has made a major contribution to the definition of Praxitelean style. Its attribution is, however, the object of fierce controversy among art historians.[clarification needed][citation needed]
The sculpture is unlikely to have been one of Praxiteles' famous works, as no ancient replicas of it have been identified. The documentary evidence associating the work with Praxiteles is based on a passing mention by the 2nd century AD travellerPausanias.
The Olympia site was hit by an earthquake during the reign of the Roman emperorDiocletian in the final years of the third century C.E, collapsing the roof of the Temple of Hera and burying the statue in rubble.
In 1874, theGreek state signed an agreement withGermany for an archaeological exploration of the Olympia site,[1] which was first dug in the FrenchMorea expedition of 1829. The German excavations in 1875 were led byErnst Curtius. On 8 May 1877, in the temple of Hera, he uncovered the body (head, torso, legs, left arm) of a statue of a young man resting against a tree trunk covered by a mantle. Protected by the thick clay layer above it, it was in an exceptionally good state of preservation.
It took six more separate discoveries to uncover the rest of the statue as it is displayed today. Hermes is still missing his right forearm, two fingers of his left hand, both forearms below the elbow, the left foot and his penis, whilst Dionysus is missing his arms (except the right hand on Hermes's shoulder) and the end of his right foot. Much of the tree trunk and the plinth are also lost. However, an ancient base survives, made of a grey limestone block between two blocks of marble.
The group is sculpted from a block of the best quality ofParian marble. Hermes measures 2.10/2.12 m, 3.70 m with the base. The right foot of Hermes is integral with a section of the base, which has undergone some adjustment in antiquity.
The face and torso of Hermes are striking for their highly polished, glowing surface, whichJohn Boardman half-jokingly attributed to generations of temple workers.[2] The back, by contrast, shows the marks of the rasp and chisel, and the rest of the sculpture is incompletely finished.
At the time of its discovery, the hair retained slight traces ofcinnabar,[3] a form of mercury sulfate with a red color, perhaps a preparation for gilding.[4] Cinnabar tints are retained on the sandal straps of the original foot, with traces of gilding. The sandal also bears the motif of a Heraclean knot, which was probably extended in paint.
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