Hermes and the Infant Dionysus

The Hermes of Olympia is a marble sculpture of the Greek god Hermes with Dionysus boy on the arm. It is dated to 340 BC and is in Greek art at the transition from the Late Classic to the early Hellenistic period. The sculpture is attributed to the sculptor Praxiteles. It is located in the museum at Olympia. The lower leg of the statue are added today. The statue was found on May 8, 1877 during excavations in the cella of the Temple of Hera in Olympia under the direction of Gustav Hirschfeld. This discovery caused a sensation in archeology. As Pausanias (5, 17, 3) noted that statue in the Heraion at Olympia in the 2nd century AD, it can be assumed that the sculpture was found at its original site.

The right leg and the trunk are carriers of the composition. The tree trunk with the robe thrown over it contrasts with the smooth body of the god. The propped left arm which carries the small Dionysos, corresponded to the upraised right hand, whose hand is probably the boy held out a bunch of grapes. The ponderation of the body, so the swing of the hips and the ratio pillar onto the swing leg as a counterpoint post, can the influence of the classical school of sculpture by Polykleitos recognize the leg proportions of Hermes was the stylistic influence of Lysippus, the pupil of Polykleitos.

This statue group was much controversy since its discovery occasion. Some archaeologists thought that because of the arrangement with the tree prop, the drape of the garment and the smooth polish of the surface of the marble Hermes is a Roman copy after a Greek original. Had kicked off the debate in 1927 Carl Bluemel. His approach is remarkable, as he included not only stylish critical arguments in his analysis, but also raised technical questions about the sculpture. Since he was also a sculptor, these observations had particular weight. Others, you certify but their Greek originality. The base, which was also found there and on which the statue stands in the museum at Olympia, can be dated by the architectural historian William Bell Dinsmoor in the 2nd or 1st century BC - much earlier than it is for a Roman copy the statue would come into consideration. Definitely determined, this question is not, but tends science today more to the opinion that it was an original by Praxiteles.