Hermes Fastening his Sandal

This work is a Roman copy of a Greek work in bronze work by Lysippus. At the moment it is very difficult to get original Greek sculptures, reason why sculptures like the Venus de Milo or the Winged Victory of Samothrace are so important. The original sculpture did not have the trunk of the tree, but it was necessary to add stability when transforming it from bronze into marble.

Lysippus was a great sculptor of the antiquity of the IV century a.C. that provided a new model of representing bodies, in particular, thanks to the slender proportions and the precision of the muscles. For example, if you look closely the head is small while the body is eight times its size. Thanks to the position of the inclined body, the statue can be seen from all sides. If you turn around, you will observe that the sculpture is appearing differently. Pliny, a historian of the time, speaks of Lysippus showing his desire to demonstrate the characteristics of men. He said he represented men as they were. For example, Hermes is a God, but he is not presented as God. He allows us to observe a moment, the very moment when the messenger god stops to fasten his sandals like any ordinary man.