Kritios boy

The plaster cast reproduces a marble statue known as the Kritios Boy found on the Acropolis in Athens. The statue was found broken in ceremonial dumps of religious and votive objects buried as a result of a traumatic event such as the Persian invasion.

Unlike the Archaic kouroi (in Greek, “young men”), the Kritios Boy is animated by a delicate movement involving the legs and hips. His muscles are round and harmonious,  his head is turned to the right and slightly inclined. His hair is combed in fine waves which are collected in a braid wrapped around the head. Technical and stylistic features which echo the contemporary production of bronze, such as the inlaid eyes and calligraphic treatment of the hair, may indicate that the Boy had been produced by a workshop that was equally adept at working with marble and bronze. The Boy, dating to the beginning of the “Severe Style” (a period of Greek art spanning from circa 480 to 450 BCE), has sometimes been attributed to the same artist who produced The Tyrant Slayers, Kritios.