Statue of Apollo with Griffin and Tripod, with unrelated Head

Roman art

The statue of the god, of unknown provenance and slightly smaller than life-size, is in the act of moving ahead with the left leg forward. The outstretched right arm clutches the now missing patera – an attribute of the oracular deity –, while the left hand holds the gryphon –, an allusion to the regions of the Hyperboreans where Apollo had atoned for the killing of the Python of Delphi. Apollo wears a long sleeved chiton and is wrapped in a double cloak fastened at the right shoulder, in a heavier fabric that descends with stiff folds on the shoulders, reaching to the knee on the right. On the left shoulder, it is folded over, leaving the arm uncovered. On the left is the tripod whose base has a relief with pairs of swans in flight, alluding, like the gryphon, to the god’s transport from the region of the Hyperboreans; coiled around the moulded central support is the serpent Python, killed with arrows by the god three days after his birth. The basin of the tripod has a pod motif and is decorated on the rim with a stag and two lyres, an allusion to the mythical dispute with Heracles for possession of the tripod. The Borghese statue is a composite creation from an urban workshop of the Hadrianic age that blends elements of various derivations into a work with an archaising tone. The head, which is unrelated, is a Neo-Attic work and refers to a type of Apollo known from several more or less documented replicas in the form of a herm, probably inspired by an Attic creation from the final years of the 5th century/early 4th century BCE. It has been suggested that it could be the Apollo Pythios from the sanctuary at Ilissus, Athens.

Object details

Commentary

Of unknown provenance, the statue is mentioned for the first time in Nibby’s 1832 guide as being in Room VI, from which it took its name. Its frontal approach impressed him, and he attributed this “to the craftsmen who had not yet arrived at giving statues that truth of demeanour and mass, that soul, almost, that Myron and Polyclitus gave them... the proportions are accurate, the demeanour motionless, the folds stiff and too even” (Nibby 1932, p. 107, no. 2). 107, no. 2). In 1888, it was moved to Room III, where it is currently located, in place of the statue of the so-called “Anacreon”, which, together with the other sculptures from Monte Calvo, was moved to the upper floor in anticipation of its sale.

The figure, slightly smaller than life-size, is in the act of moving ahead with the left leg forward, the outstretched right arm clutching the now missing patera – an attribute of the oracular deity –, while the god’s left hand holds the gryphon, an allusion to the regions of the Hyperboreans, where Apollo had atoned for the killing of the Python of Delphi. Apollo wears a long sleeved chiton and is wrapped in a double cloak fastened on the right shoulder, in a heavier fabric that descends with stiff folds over the shoulders, reaching to the right knee. On the left shoulder it is folded over, leaving the arm uncovered.

 In the lower part, the chiton adheres to the body, revealing the anatomical forms, with stiff vertical folds between the legs and laterally; the god wears sandals with low soles. On the left is the tripod whose base has a relief with pairs of swans in flight, alluding, like the gryphon, to the god’s transport from the region of the Hyperboreans; coiled around the moulded central support is the serpent, Python, known at Delphi for having long terrorised its inhabitants, rampaging indiscriminately against animals and people. Apollo killed him with arrows three days after he was hatched by Leto. The monstrous serpent son of Gaea had the ability to utter oracles. According to Apollodorus (Library 1,1,1 - 1,1,3; 1,4,1), Python was merely the keeper of the oracle at Delphi, where the responses were pronounced by the titan Themis; however, having tried to prevent Apollo from gaining access to it, he was killed by the god, who took over the sanctuary and founded the Pythian Games.

The basin of the tripod has a pod motif and is decorated on the rim with a stag and two lyres, an allusion to the mythical contest with Heracles for possession of the tripod.

Bruckmann was the first to point out the discrepancy between the way the folds of the cloak fell, reflecting the Attic style of the second half of the 5th century BCE, and the tight and rigid drapery of the chiton, suggesting an archaic model, speculating that this was either a Roman work inspired by an archaic sculpture of the 4th-2nd century BCE, or a Roman creation inspired by a Neo-Attic work (Brunn et alii 1898, no. 657). Moreno, picking up on a hypothesis already formulated by Borrelli Vlad (1949), suggests that the Borghese statue is a composite creation that blends elements of various derivations into a work with an archaising tone, in which Ionic and Classical elements are expressed with the archaising timbre and virtuosic ornamental taste typical of the late 2nd-century BCE style of Rhodes (Moreno, Viacava 2003).

The tripod finds close comparisons with a statue of Apollo Citharoedus in the Bardo Museum, Tunis (Inv. no. C939), according to an iconography also confirmed by the Hadrianic tondo reused in the arch of Constantine, which was very popular. See also the sarcophagus with Apollo and Marsyas, in the Torlonia collection, in which the gryphon also appears (Visconti 1884-85, pp. 295-298, no. 423, table CVII). The rigidity and angularity of the drapery and a certain smoothness of the surface suggest attribution to an urban workshop of the Hadrianic age.

The head, which is unrelated, is of fine workmanship: the hairstyle, parted in the centre (with modern ringlets) refers to the type of Apollo known as “Ariadne” known from several more or less documented replicas in the form of a herm, with the appearance of cithara player, covered by the long chiton, preserved in a smaller number of versions that do not exactly coincide in detail. The basis of the Roman copies is probably an Attic creation – perhaps an acrolith – from the final years of the 5th century/early 4th century BCE. It has been proposed that this might be the Apollo Pythios of the sanctuary at Ilissus seen by Pausanias, whose authorship is variously attributed to Agorakritos, Kephisodotos, Scopas or Alkamenes (cf. Gasparri 1976; Palagia 1984, pp. 204 f., no. 146; Vorster 1993, pp. 139 ff.). Among the derivations from the archetype, the Borghese head can be placed among those of type B, re-elaborated in the late Republican period in a Neo-Attic environment.

Jessica Clementi