JEWELLERY, DECORATIVE & FINE ARTS AUCTION Tuesday, 16 May 2023 - 10:00 AM start

A large 19thC bronze of the god of war 'The Ludovisi Ares',

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Lot Details

after the late 4th Century BCE Greek original, the Roman god of war receives his Greek name, Ares. Ares/Mars is portrayed as young and beardless, seated nude wearing only a loin cloth, presented more as a love object than a god of war. Enhanced by his trophy of arms. His left foot rests on his helmet, his shield is placed beside him. A hand clasped around the raised knee, his left holds a sword. H.688mm. Note: The 18th Century connoisseur Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a man noted for his practiced eye for male beauty, found the Ludovisi Ares 'the most beautiful Mars that had been preserved from Antiquity', when he wrote the catalogue of the Ludovisi collection.

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