From printed plaque on plinth 'Discobolus of Myron / Diskobolos. This image of a discus thrower was by Myron, a Greek sculptor of the 5th century BC. Only copies of the original bronze survive, two of which are in the Terme Museum, Rome. Discobolus dates from the beginning of the classical period of Greek art, when sculptors began expressing movement. He is posed about to throw his disc, and the twisted torso and legs in profile give a sense of dynamic tension. Presented by Thomas Russell, 1878.'

see also

BLACKLEY, L., Auckland War Memorial Museum - An Architectural History (Auckland Museum 1997)

BLACKLEY, R., The Greek Sculptures in the Auckland War Memorial Museum (Art N.Z. Vol 48. Spring 1988)

Athenian. Early Classical, ca. 450 B.C.

Male nude: athlete throwing a discus

Sculptor: Myron of Eleutherae

Bronze original now lost.

Marble copy: Terme Museum, Rome

Height 1.53 m

Applied Arts Collection, left hand missing

Placed above the main Museum entrance

A marble statue of an athlete throwing a discus found on the Esquiline Hill in Rome was identified as a copy of Myron's Discobolus from a description of his bronze original by Lucian. The Discobolus is an idealised 'victor statue' commemorating a living athlete.

Myron preferred to work in bronze and was the leading sculptor in Athens in the middle years of the 5th Century BC. Discobolus was his masterpiece and is remarkable in its depiction of the 'tension of the psychological moment' of an intense physical action. The composition of the sculpture is based on a contrived moment of the rhythm of the curves between an imaginary back swing and fore swing as the naked athlete wheels about on his left foot to release the discus.

The head is lowered and the arms curved, with the right hand flung back holding the discus. The left hand is placed forward over the bent right knee and the left foot is pressed against a tree stump. The pose is impossibly twisted at the waist so that the muscular torso is viewed from the frontal position while the head and limbs are in profile.

The unknown Roman sculptor who carved the marble copy cut his Discobolus from the marble block on one plane. Technically, this indicates that Myron had created the original bronze statue to be seen mainly from the frontal viewpoint, possibly to suit a particular site similar to the platform above the main door of the Museum where the plaster replica is displayed.

Bibliography and notes:

Blackley, Greek Sculptures in the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Blackley gives a full account of the history and proposed function of the replicas. The replicas were made in the cast workshop of Brucciani's Galleria delle Belle Arti in Russell St, Covent Garden, London. N.B.: left hand now missing.

Stewart gives a full account of Early Classical sculpture.

Discobolus

Athenian Classical ca. 450

Male nude: athlete with a

Sculptor: Myron of Eleutherae

Bronze original lost.

Plaster

marble in the Terme, Rome

Height 1.53 m.