Borghese Gladiator

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This sculpture is a replica of the Borghese Gladiator, obtained in 1898 from an original Roman statue housed at The Louvre. The work was originally part of a collection belonging to Italians, whose name it bears. Although commonly known as a gladiator, this sculpture actually depicts a combatant warrior. The piece, with its trunk bearing the signature of Agasias of Ephesus, son of Dositheus, recalls the style of Lysippos, the renowned fourth-century BC bronze sculptor. However, the accentuated musculature bears the mark of the Pergamene school's influence. Agasias revived the athletic heroism of Lysippos and combined it with the pathos characteristic of the Hellenistic period. The Borghese Gladiator could be a Hellenistic replica - created for a Roman patron - of a bronze or marble sculpture by Lysippos or one of his followers from the late classical era. The presence of the tree trunk likely confirms this hypothesis, indicating that the original bronze work needed strengthening, as it was then transposed into heavier and more fragile marble. The overemphasized musculature and dynamic movement of the figure, organized along a broad diagonal, evoke the friezes on the Pergamon Altar, erected in the early second century BC. These depict the battle between the Gods and the Giants. The intense pathos in the warrior's face treatment accentuates his efforts' intensity.