Belvedere Torso

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The Belvedere Torso is a fragmentary marble statue of a nude male, portrayed seated on an animal hide. Its precise identification remains open to debate, though traditionally identified as Heracles seated on the skin of the Nemean lion, recent studies have identified the skin as that of a panther, occasioning other identifications such as Hercules, Polyphemus and Marsyas among others. The Vatican Museum website states "the most favored hypothesis identifies it with Ajax, the son of Telamon, in the act of contemplating his suicide". It was once believed to be a 1st-century BC original, but is now believed to be a copy from the 1st century BC or AD of an older statue, which probably dated to the early 2nd century BC. The contorted pose and musculature of the torso were highly influential on Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque artists including Michelangelo and Raphael. Michelangelo's admiration for the Torso was widely known in his lifetime, making it known as "The School of Michelangelo". Legend has it that Pope Julius II requested that Michelangelo complete the statue fragment with arms legs and a face but he respectfully declined stating that it was too beautiful to be altered and instead used it as inspiration for several figures in the Sistine Chapel including the Sibyls Prophets bordering the ceiling and the risen Christ in The Last Judgement.