Portrait of the Greek statesman and orator Demosthenes, standing

Copy in plaster acquired in 1898 of a Roman copy in the Vatican, as a pendent to the other known Roman copy, now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. Both were copies of a statue made by Polyeuktos some forty years after the death of Demosthenes in 322 BCE. Demosthenes committed suicide on the run form Macedonian persecution. The Macedonians wanted him convicted for speaking in favor of Athenian freedom and democracy, against the interests of the Macedonians. The speeches, rhetoric and ideals of Demosthenes had upheld quite a lot of interest during the decades until democracy again was restored as the governing principle in Europe during the Eighteen-hundreds.