Statuette of Apollo

Statuette of a youthful male, semi nude and draped in a himation that covers his legs. He is seated on a rock. The statue is composed of four parts: the upper torso with the head which is unbroken, the lower torso with legs and drapery, the middle part of the rock and the plinth with both feet and the lower part of the rock. The upper and lower torso are ancient and seem to belong together as confirmed by the forward move of the body, typical for seated figures. The other two parts are modern restorations. The right arm was raised while the left was lowered. The youthful man has long hair arranged in a complicated hairstyle: a large bow is kept in place by a fillet above the forehead; loosely twisted locks are around the hairline, starting from the centre part and descending to the nape of the neck; finally a pony tail, divided into three long loose twisted strands hangs below the shoulders. A long loose curly lock also falls on the front of either shoulder. Many variations of this type of seated Apollo survived with similar attributes, such as the draping of the himation and the position of the arms. Bartman believed that that the right arm was raised, probably playing the guitar or adjusting its strings. The style of the head is of the Julio Claudian period and therefore dates to the first half of the 1st century AD. Apollo was an important god in Augustian ideology, In the seated type he is seen as a protector of the Muses and was very popular for the decoration of private villas of the elite. The restorer included a lizard on the added plinth, inspired by Praxiteles's Apollo the Sauroktonos, a type that was well known in the 18th century through the celebrated bronze in the Villa Albani. The left foot and hand of the statue had some kind of chemically treatment, making the surface very granular.