Belvedere Antinous (about 1630)

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today two highly important sculpture acquisitions: Christ and Mary Magdalene (1908), a large marble group by one of history’s most renowned sculptors, Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), and a bronze statue of the Belvedere Antinous of about 1630 by Italian master Pietro Tacca (1577-1640).

This is my photo of the back of the Belvedere Antinous.

"This figure is based on an ancient Roman marble statue also known as the Belvedere Antinous, now in the Vatican Museum, itself based on a Greek original of the 4th-century B.C. The Roman marble was acquired by Pope Paul III (1468-1549) and quickly became famous, having been copied as early as 1545 by Francesco Primaticcio (Italian, 1504-1570). Indeed, the Belvedere Antinous was considered by artists, theorists, and collectors as the most beautiful surviving statue from antiquity, and as representing the perfect proportions of the male body."