THE COLOSSUS OF HERA IN ARGOS BY POLYKLEITOS THE ELDER: A RECONSTRUCTION EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The article proposes and substantiates a new graphical reconstruction of the chryselephantine colossus of Hera in Argos, created by Polykleitos the Elder in 400 BC. The combination of art sources, archaeological data and ancient documents by Pausanias, Tertullian and Maximus of Tyre describing the lost throne statue of the goddess allow us to recreate it in sufficient detail, completely discarding the speculative methods of the past. The iconographic similarity of the marble replica of the statue of the goddess from the Boston collection with the image of Polyxena in the painting by Polykleitos (depicted on a bronze jug from a Sarmatian burial mound in the Rostov region), earlier identified by the authors, confirms the correctness of A.Limfert, who suggested that the Boston torso reproduced the lost original of the Argos chryselephantine colossus. The surviving part of the Boston replica and the details of the image of the throne of the statue of Hera on the Apulian lekythos from the collection of the British Museum suggest that the marble throne from the tomb of the Macedonian queen Eurydice repeats the throne of the Argive colossus in its main details. The stylistic similarity of the faces of the sculptural images of Demeter Ludovisi, the Sosicles Amazon and the Westmacott Athlete, noted by the authors, makes it possible to express the opinion that the head from the collection of the Palazzo Altemps in Rome is a replica of the statue of Hera by Polykleitos the Elder. Thanks to the surviving parts of Demeter Ludovisi and the image of the head of the colossus of Hera on a fragment of the Apulian crater, which is in a private collection in Kiel (Germany), the authors recreate the diadem crowning the head and the calyptra that covered it. The figures of Horai and Charites, framing the upper edge of the diadem, were reconstructed owing to the iconographic prototype of the same goddesses placed at the base of the back and armrests of the throne of Queen Eurydice. The sceptre, its finial in the form of a cuckoo sitting on an Ionic capital, and the twisted pole are restored according to the images of the colossus of Hera on the Apulian crater and the reverses of the Argive diassarions during the reign of Antoninus Pius. The pomegranate fruit in the deity's right hand was reconstructed thanks to the drawing of the image of the statue of Hera, made by A.Linfert from a marble relief in the collection of the Argos Museum. The presumptive colour scheme of the colossus of the goddess was recreated based on a fresco of the 4th century BC, depicting the Hellenistic chryselephantine throne image of Aphrodite, similar in some details of its iconography to Hera by Polykleitos the Elder.