In this episode, we’ll be visiting Diskobolos of Myron at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. Welcome to Art, Culture & Books with me, Anthony King.
This incredible work is the “Diskobolos of Myron”. The Diskobolos is obviously the discus-thrower. The museum tell us:
“An athlete is coiled up in a taut, momentary pose, about to throw the discus – one of the pentathlete’s five events. The cast combines a headless statue from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli and the head of a statue found in Rome. Copied closely from a lost bronze victor statue by the Athenian sculptor, Myron, active c. 460-440 BC. Body: Vatican Museums. Head: Rome, National Museum.”
There aren’t any original sculptures that we know were made by him that still exist today which is why we see the Roman copies.
By Anthony King (c)