After the antique: Runner, patinated bronze, foundry mark Delmar, on a white patinated wooden base, 20th C.

H 191 - 120 cm (with and without later white base)
Bronze base: 81 x 33 x 9 cm

The original 'Herculaneum runner' sculptures were found during the excavations of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum in 1754 undertaken by Charles de Bourbon, the future King of Spain Charles III and the later King of Naples in 1734, and today preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The Villa dei Papiri belonged to Pison, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar, and was buried by the eruption of the Vesuvius during the fall of 79 AD. Both sculptures are probably copies of Greek statues from the end of the 4th century or the beginning of the 3rd century BC, celebrating a victorious athlete in one of the great Pan-Hellenic games and they probably date from the period of the Emperor Augustus (link).