Figure of a young man from a funerary relief
Greek, Attic, c. 330 B.C.
Marble
63 1/8 x 30 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (160.34 x 78.1 x 47.62 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil H. Green, 1966.26

Classical Greek sculpture celebrated the human body. In architectural sculptures such as the works ornamenting the Parthenon temple in Athens, or in single votive statues, the nude male figure achieved heroic beauty of form. In the later stages of classical Greek art, at the end of the 5th and during the 4th centuries B.C., the great families of Athens turned to a more private kind of art, the grave sculpture. These artistic memorials to the dead shared a general loosening of classic form and a more human, emotional approach to art. This figure of a young man comes from an elaborate grave memorial. Originally, the figure of the youth would have been framed by an architectural shrine that also included other figures, such as the boy’s aged father. A very similar composition appears on the Ilissos relief (now in the National Museum in Athens). The young man stands in a contrapposto position, turning on the axis of his body and looking out of the sculptural space at the viewer. His nude body has the radiant purity of an athlete in his prime, although implicit in the work is a sense of tragedy, as the young man has died in the flower of youth and beauty.