Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title:
Statue of Young African Acrobat
Image View:
Overall three-quarter view from front right
Creator:
unknown (Roman (ancient))
Location:
repository: Museo Nazionale Romano (Rome, Lazio, Italy) inv. 40009
Location Note:
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme; Largo di Villa Peretti, 2
GPS:
41.901359 12.498249
Date:
ca. 27 BCE-68 CE (creation)
Cultural Context:
Roman (ancient)
Style Period:
Early Imperial
Work Type 1:
sculpture (visual work)
Classification:
Sculpture and Installations
Material:
pentelic marble
Technique:
carving (processes)
Subjects:
human figure; Blacks in art; acrobatics
Description:
Discovered in via Nomentana in Rome, in the area of the demolished Villa Patrizi (1908). A young African performs an acrobatic trick very similar to those performed by tribal members from an area of the Nile, the Tentyitae (described by Pliny in Naturalis Historia), where skilled divers dive into the water from the backs of crocodiles. The work is based on a Hellenistic original and here has been adapted for the Roman period as a fountain decoration. The hole in the acrobat's mouth is a water spout. (Source: Museo Nazionale Romano; http://archeoroma.be niculturali.it/en/no de/482)
Collection:
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier:
7A3-R-PM-AA-A01
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Statue of Young African Acrobat