Sisak
02-15-2014, 07:17 PM
Covered with thick encrustations and algae the statue was discovered on the sandy bottom off the islet of Vela Orjula in the Lošinj Channel.
The Apoxiomen (Apoxyómenos) – also known as ‘The athlete after exercise’.
The Apoxiomen is a statue of a young athlete shown scraping the dust and oil from his body with a a small curved metal instrument that the Romans called a strigil. In the days before soap, perfumed oil was applied to the skin and then the strigil was used to scrape it off, drawing the dirt and sweat from the body along with the oil.
Covered with thick encrustations and algae the statue was discovered in 1996 on the sandy seabed south-east from the island of Lošinj. The experts have dated the sculpture to a century after the original (which was made by Alexander the Great’s court sculptor Lysippus), when copies started appearing across the Mediterranean. Croatian Apoxiomen is ranked seventh in the world, and it is singled out for its high level of preservation and the fact that the original bronze base of the statue was preserved. The painstaking restoration lasted 5 years. During the process The Apoxiomen was not treated chemically, nor with any abrasive agent. The thick calcific crust was removed mechanically, by hand .
For more on the discovery of the statue, its recovery and conservation-restoration work see the web site of the Croatian Conservation Institute.
http://tinoradman.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/the-apoxiomen-arrives-in-zadar/
http://i57.tinypic.com/maylp2.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/b7jup3.jpg
The Apoxiomen (Apoxyómenos) – also known as ‘The athlete after exercise’.
The Apoxiomen is a statue of a young athlete shown scraping the dust and oil from his body with a a small curved metal instrument that the Romans called a strigil. In the days before soap, perfumed oil was applied to the skin and then the strigil was used to scrape it off, drawing the dirt and sweat from the body along with the oil.
Covered with thick encrustations and algae the statue was discovered in 1996 on the sandy seabed south-east from the island of Lošinj. The experts have dated the sculpture to a century after the original (which was made by Alexander the Great’s court sculptor Lysippus), when copies started appearing across the Mediterranean. Croatian Apoxiomen is ranked seventh in the world, and it is singled out for its high level of preservation and the fact that the original bronze base of the statue was preserved. The painstaking restoration lasted 5 years. During the process The Apoxiomen was not treated chemically, nor with any abrasive agent. The thick calcific crust was removed mechanically, by hand .
For more on the discovery of the statue, its recovery and conservation-restoration work see the web site of the Croatian Conservation Institute.
http://tinoradman.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/the-apoxiomen-arrives-in-zadar/
http://i57.tinypic.com/maylp2.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/b7jup3.jpg