Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus

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Menelaus Supporting Patroclus is a marble sculpture renowned for its depiction of an episode in Homer's Iliad, where Menelaus and Patroclus play pivotal roles. The artwork boasts a rich artistic and social history that highlights the extent to which improvisational "restorations" were made to ancient Roman sculptures during the 16th and 17th centuries. Italian sculptors of the time made original yet often arbitrary and destructive additions, aiming to replace lost fragments of the ancient masterpieces. The original core of the sculpture, hidden beneath later embellishments, initially featured a headless torso of a man clad in armor supporting a heroically naked comrade on the brink of death; this group was crafted in the late 1st century AD. It is a Roman copy that freely reproduces a Hellenistic Pergamene original from the mid-3rd century BC. Significant restorations were undertaken by Ludovico Salvetti, based on a design by Pietro Tacca (1640) and another by Stefano Ricci (around 1830). The sculpture was discovered in Rome, became property of the Medici family in Florence from 1570, and was placed near Ponte Vecchio. It has been on display in the Loggia since 1741.