The Soldier of Marathon Announces Victory at the Louvre, Paris

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After the Greeks' first victory over the Persians at Marathon, a soldier ran more than forty kilometers to Athens to announce the news, collapsing and dying from exhaustion after delivering his message. Cortot chose to depict this moment when the weary soldier gives in, raising his chest one final time and brandishing the palm of victory aloft. At Marathon in 490 BC, the Greeks first defeated the Persians under King Darius I. The Persian army had disembarked near Marathon but deemed the location unfavorable for military maneuvers, so they began to re-embark. Miltiades, leader of the outnumbered Greek troops, decided it was time to attack the Persian army. According to legend, a soldier ran all the way to Athens to announce the Greek victory and then collapsed from exhaustion. This event has given birth to the famous marathon race. The Soldier of Marathon embodied the virtuous hero who sacrificed himself for his homeland's glory, a theme that had been fashionable in France since the late 18th century. Cortot presented a plaster model of this work at the Salon of 1822 and then created the marble version in 1831, commissioned by Louis-Philippe after he ascended to the throne. This piece was part of a series of commissions highlighting the glories of antiquity, featuring numerous heroes celebrated for their courage, devotion to patriotic duty, and stoicism. Cortot's athletic male nude drew on conventional representations of heroes in antique statuary, providing the sculptor with an opportunity to create a superb academic figure. The pose recalls Johan Tobias Sergel's study for the Dying Othryades, where the reclining soldier raises himself up to inscribe the victory on his shield. This work had been presented at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris in 1779 as an admission piece. The head is thrown back, evoking the image of the Dying Alexander from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, an antique head whose cast every sculpture workshop possessed. The finely modeled face remains impassive, with locks of hair carved consistently. The soldier shows no signs of fatigue, pain, or intense emotion. Trained in the classical tradition, Cortot aimed to represent the ideal character even when the subject demanded a certain level of emotional expression. In 1852, James Pradier borrowed this theme for his Soldier of Marathon, creating a piece that remains in private collection today.