The youth commemorated on this grave stele stands out against a vibrant red background. Framing his figure is an intricate pattern (known as guilloche) of red, green, and yellow interlocking bands. His spear and the greaves (shin guards) protecting his lower legs, once brightly painted, identify him as a hoplite, or foot soldier. A panel below shows a warrior mounting a quadriga (four-horse chariot), while his charioteer holds the reins. The artist differentiated between the pairs of overlapping horses by using different colors to articulate the manes, legs, and tails. With its dark background, the color scheme resembles that of red-figure vases made in this period.
#1013. Fragment of the marble stele (grave marker) of a hoplite (foot
soldier)
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1013. Fragment of the marble stele (grave marker) of a hoplite (foot
soldier)
1445. Fragment of the marble stele (grave marker) of a hoplite (foot
soldier)
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Artwork Details
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Title:Fragment of the marble stele (grave marker) of a hoplite (foot soldier)
Period:Archaic
Date:ca. 525–515 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Marble, Hymettian
Dimensions:Overall: 55 15/16 x 20 1/8 in. (142.1 x 51.1 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1938
Object Number:38.11.13
Said to be from Attica
[Until 1938, with Roussos, Athens and Paris]; [1938, acquired by Joseph Brummer, purchased from Roussos in Paris]; [until December 1938, with Joseph Brummer, New York (P15133)]; acquired in 1938, purchased from Joseph Brummer.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1944, 1949. Greek Painting: The Development of Pictoral Representation from Archaic to Graeco-Roman Times. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 135, 274, pl. 114a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1954. Catalogue of Greek Sculptures. no. 16, pp. 13–14, pls. 19-20, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1961. The Archaic Gravestones of Attica. no. 45, pp. 32–33, figs. 126–28, London: Phaidon Press.
Forsyth, William Holmes and The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. 1974. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A.. p. 2, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Reuterswärd, Patrik. 1980. Studien zur Polychromie der Plastik. p. 48, n. 86, Stockholm: Bokförlaget Svenska.
Woysch-Méautis, Daphné. 1982. La Représentation des Animaux et des êtres Fabuleux sur les Monuments Funéraires Grecs: de l'époque archaïque à la fin du IVe siècle av. J.-C., Cahiers d'archéologie romande de la Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, No. 21. no. 7, pp. 34, 105, pl. 3, Lausanne: Bibliothèque Historique Vaudoise.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. p. 8, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bodel, John P. and Stephen Tracy. 1997. Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA : A Checklist. p. 184, Rome: American Academy in Rome.
Keesling, Catherine M. 1999. "Endoios's Painting from the Themistoklean Wall: A Reconstruction." Hesperia, 68(4): p. 537 n. 133.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 68, pp. 72, 419, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lazzarini, Lorenzo and Clemente Marconi. 2014. "A New Analysis of Major Greek Sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum: Petrological and Stylistic." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 49: pp. 125, 127, fig. 27.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. no. 10, pp. 22, 72–73, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 7, pp. 40–41, New York: Scala Publishers.
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