Boxer at Rest

sometimes and most unexpectedly met with

real masterpieces; but I have never felt such
an extraordinary impression as the one created
by the sight of this magnicent specimen of a
semi-barbaric athlete, coming slowly out of the
ground, as if awakening from a long repose after his gallant ghts.[1]

2 Description

Seated boxer (Museo delle Terme, Rome)

Dated to around 330 B.C.E., the bronze Boxer at Rest,

also known as the Terme Boxer or Boxer of the Quirinal,
is a Hellenistic Greek sculpture of a sitting nude boxer at
rest, still wearing his caestus, a type of leather hand-wrap,
in the collection of the National Museum of Rome.

Discovery

The Boxer is one of two unrelated bronzes (the other being the unidentied Hellenistic ruler) discovered on the
slopes of the Quirinal within a month of each other in
1885, possibly from the remains of the Baths of Constantine. It appears that both had been carefully buried
in antiquity. The archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani, who
was present at the sculptures discovery, wrote

Detail of the head

The statue is a masterpiece of Hellenistic athletic professionalism, with a top-heavy over-muscled torso and
scarred and bruised face, cauliower ears, broken nose,
and a mouth suggesting broken teeth. R.R.R. Smith believes that the statue does not show a true portrait: this
is genre realism, individuality removed in favour of a
generic character of boxer.[2]

I have witnessed, in my long career in the

active eld of archaeology, many discoveries; I
have experienced surprise after surprise; I have

In 1989 both bronzes were meticulously conserved by

Nikolaus Himmelmann, in preparation for their exhibi1

tion at the Akademisches Kunstmuseum in Bonn.[3] The

sculpture is soldered together from eight segments, separately cast through the lost-wax process; the joins have
been led and nished to be virtually invisible. The lips
and wounds and scars about the face were originally inlaid
with copper, and further copper inlays on the right shoulder, forearm, caestus and thigh represented drops and
trickles of blood. The ngers and toes were worn from
being rubbed by passers-by in ancient times, which has
suggested that the Boxer was carefully buried to preserve
its talismanic value, when the Baths were abandoned after
the Goths cut the aqueducts that fed them.[4]
The statue was displayed in the United States for the rst
time from June to July 2013 at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York City as part of the Year of Italian
Culture in the United States.[5]

Reception

The literary and aesthetic reception of the statue continues to be of high regard for its aesthetic virtues. In 1991,
the short story writer Thom Jones wrote The Pugilist at
Rest as the prize winning, lead short story in a book
of his by the same name. The short story includes the
aesthetic reection upon the statues rare quality as seen
through the eyes of a worn and weary boxer contemplating its inspiration. During the time of its display in New
York during the summer of 2013 (ended 20 July), New
York magazine published on 15 July 2013 a full page dedication to the special qualities and attributes of the statue.
Jerry Saltz, the author of this magazine article enumerated the six distinctive features of the statue as follows:
(i) The Pose, distinct for its massiveness and elemental
form, (ii) The Face, noted for the large brow and columnar neck, (iii) The Blood, noted by its inlaid copper upon
the bronze statue itself, (iv) The Scared Genitals, distinct for being inbulated for aesthetic purposes of ancient times, (v) The Hands, noted for being astounding
yet gentle at the same time, and (vi) The Foresight, referring to the sculptors strength of vision which resembles
and conjures Goya's Giant as well as comparison with
"Velazquez and Rembrandt", as Saltz completes his list.
The author of the short story The Pugilist at Rest, Thom
Jones, suggests the identication of the boxer as follows:
Perhaps it is Theogenes who is depicted in the famous
Roman statue (based on the earlier Greek original) of
[... the boxer.] The statue depicts a muscular athlete approaching his middle age. He has a thick beard and a
full head of curly hair. In addition to the tell-tale broken
nose and cauliower ears of a boxer, the pugilist has the
slanted, drooping brows that bespeak torn nerves. Also,
the forehead is piled with scar tissue. As may be expected, the pugilist has the musculature of a ghter.

EXTERNAL LINKS

4 References
[1] Lanciani, Ancient Rome in Light of Recent Discoveries (1888:305306), quoted in Sean Hemingway, The
Boxer: an ancient masterpiece comes to the Met, 2013;
accessed 29 June 2013.
[2] Smith, R. R. R. (1991). Hellenistic Sculpture. London. pp.
5455.
[3] Himmelmann, Nikolaus (1998). Herrscher und Athlet:
Die Bronzen vom Quirinal. Milan: Olivetti.
[4] Hemingway 2013.
[5] Art - June 2013 - Italy in US 2013: Year of Italian Culture in the United States. italyinus2013.org. Archived
from the original on 20 June 2013.
[6] Apolloniuss Boxer at Rest. Smarthistory at Khan
Academy. Retrieved February 18, 2013.

5 External links
3D preview

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Boxer at Rest Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_at_Rest?oldid=697947725 Contributors: Wetman, Jastrow, MatthiasKabel,

Sparkit, BD2412, Pleiotrop3, Feydey, Hellbus, Ptcamn, Gadget850, Fram, PRehse, Hmains, ApolloCreed, Smallbones, Greenshed, Erimus,
Neddyseagoon, Eponymous-Archon, Erik Kennedy, Outriggr (2006-2009), Cydebot, EdJohnston, Psychobunny2412, STBotD, Andyvphil,
TXiKiBoT, Chrisrus, PixelBot, Vivio Testarossa, Estirabot, Arjayay, Addbot, Mephiston999, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Materialscientist, GrouchoBot, DecebalHormuz, Kanghuitari, CorvusValerius, Animus93, DavidLeighEllis, Livioandronico2013, Fitchdude and Anonymous: 29

6.2

Images

File:Boxer_of_Quirinal_(Mys_from_Taranto)_-_Lateral_View.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/

Boxer_of_Quirinal_%28Mys_from_Taranto%29_-_Lateral_View.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
Livioandronico2013
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artist: David Vignoni / ICON KING
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File:Thermae_boxer_Massimo_Inv1055_n7.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Thermae_boxer_
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6.3

Content license

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