Unknown
Roman

Apollo Kitharista, 1st c. CE, copy of 4th c. Greek original
marble, white
59 × 23 1/2 × 16 1/2 in.

SBMA, Gift of Wright S. Ludington
1971.51.1

COMMENTS

This handsome life-size statue unquestionably represents an Apollo Kitharista in mid-stride. The left or free leg is noticeably bent, with the hips thrust forward, creating in profile a graceful, crescent-like contour. The god wears a sleeveless chiton (linen tunic), which is belted to form full kolpoi (overfolds) on each side of the front just below the waist. The kolpoi, the sweeping drapery of the himation (wool mantle), and the folds of the chiton between the legs are accentuated by deep undercutting in the marble. The drapery is only cursorily treated on the back, however, in a series of U-shaped folds that sketch in the mantle falling from the neck to the ankles. One end of the mantle hangs near the left hip.

The preserved portion of the right arm clearly indicates that his arm was held down at the side, with the forearm projecting slightly out from the body. Though less remains of the left arm, it clearly was drawn slightly back. The position could have been similar to that in the Apollo Kitharista in Naples thus giving Santa Barbara two Apollos of this type. The square dowel holes at the left deltoid and near the left hip are important evidence for such a conjecture, for they are in the right position to secure the kithara. The patina inside the upper dowel hole would indicate that the kithara, if there was one, was removed very early in the life of the statue.

A remarkably close parallel to the Santa Barbara draped Apollo Kitharista is offered by a statue in Berlin which is much restored, but nonetheless its pose, gesture, and style of drapery are so similar to those of the Santa Barbara Statue as to suggest that both were produced by the same workshop. The transparent quality of the drapery – best noted on the chest, left leg, and lower portion of the right leg—bears a resemblance to Greek sculpture of the late 5th century BCE, as on the pedimental sculpture of the Parthenon and on the reliefs of the balustrade of the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis. But the quality of the transparency along the heavy folds of rather loose, billowing drapery is more characteristic of the 4th century and therefore suggests that a statue of the later period was the prototype for the SBMA Apollo.

The very flat, unfinished character of the back of this draped Apollo Kitharista is a good indication that the figure was designed for a niche, probably in a theater or library, and probably just above eye level, judging from the general sweep, the deep undercutting of the kolpoi, and other details of the drapery.

Long after the 4th century BCE, its sculptural styles were still in favor. The Romans had an extreme fondness for Greek art and plundered vast amounts of it during their contacts with the Greek cultures of Asia Minor and their military conquests of mainland Greece, South Italy and Sicily, from the 3rd to the end of the 2nd Century BCE. Since the Roman appetite for Greek sculpture was insatiable, demand soon outran supply. Consequently, later sculptors of Greek and Roman origin throughout the Roman Empire were engaged to make replicas of early Greek statuary. Some of these replicas were exact, or nearly exact copies. Others displayed many alterations and adaptations in scale, pose and gesture. Often there was a conspicuous blending of 5th and 4th century styles. This SBMA figure is an exceptionally fine statue of this sort, most probably produced in the Augustan and Julio-Claudian period during the first half of the 1st Century CE.

- Mario A. DelChiaro, Adaptations from Classical Art Sculpture, SBMA catalog, 1984, pp. 35-37

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

Apollo, the god of music, is shown with his clothing billowing in the wind. With great skill, the sculptor made the heavy marble appear light and transparent, showing the outlines of the god’s body as though it lies beneath the stone’s surface. Based on similar more complete sculptures in other museum collections, it is likely he would have originally held a stringed instrument known as a kithara in his left hand and a plectrum in his right. The kithara symbolizes Apollo’s close association with the Muses, and his patronage of the arts of music and poetry. This style of sculpture was first popular in the Greek world in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC and was later imitated by the Romans.

- Ludington Court Reopening, 2021