This is a plaster statue in a humanities classroom at +James Hill's college. There's no marking on the base anywhere to identify who it is (or purports to be), and my Google-fu has failed me. Anyone out there with an historical bent have any bright ideas?
Curly hair, no beard — makes me think Roman. But that shield just isn't right.
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Looks like a students rendition of Alexander The Great.
French, Crusades era?
So there we have a 1500-year spread. 🙂
That said, if you told me that it was a French Crusade-era statue of Alexander, that might possibly work.
Well, maybe not — it's a bit more realistic than what I think of from that era's statuary (thinking of tomb figures in old churches). But it's also (if based on an historical figure) pre-Renaissance and post-Roman, to my untrained eyeball. The armor and shield seem to have enough anachronisms to make it a creation well after the fact.
The armor depicted is, more or less, what's known as the heroic revival style and dates to the late 15th century in various parts of the Holy Roman Empire (Italy and Germany). It was an attempt to make the armor of the day reflect what early-renaissance people thought ancient Greek and Roman styles looked like. If it's an actual piece from that period, I'd guess Italian, based on the cuirass. German examples from that period are generally elaborately fluted, while the Italians preferred clean lines.
Of course, it could be a much later work intentionally aping that style. But I would say no earlier than 1480 or so.
Considering it's sitting in a humanities classroom, I'm guessing you can mark it's age in years, rather than centuries.
Surely whoever teaches Classics in that classroom knows who it represents and of what it is a reproduction?
They look very concerned.
+David Newman The one class I know of that's taught in that room is Italian (Modern).
I might suggest (if he's truly interested) that +James Hill might ping some of the classics profs on campus, however.
+Theron Bretz That all makes tremendous sense. Thanks.