Belvedere Antinous

The male figure describes a soft, round, serpentining movement from foot to head. It was originally identified as a depiction of Hadrian’s young lover Antinous. The sculpture was regarded as one of the most beautiful works from Antiquity and was frequently copied. The sculptor Antonio Canova copied it after a plaster copy before visiting Rome. Winckelmann, too, described the sculpture on the basis of a plaster cast before he had visited Rome. He stated that artists should “let their hand and mind be guided” by this figure if they sought to find their way back to the natural. Enchanted, he makes an exception to his usual practice and speaks of freedom and “the natural” even though Greece was not free under Roman rule.WhenWinckelmann subsequently saw the statue in Rome he was less enthusiastic. Its navel seemed unnatural, and its feet too large. It was, then, presumably affected by Roman tastes; perhaps it was a depiction of Hermes?