Townley Discobolus

The body twists into the discus throw. Follow the curve through the legs, torso and arms, then look at the direction of the head. The head was incorrectly restored. What you see combines ancient carving with a later attempt to complete a damaged statue. This marble version was made in the second century AD after a Greek model. Roman makers and patrons valued Greek sculptural forms, so a statue can tell a story about copying and taste within antiquity as well as about its later collectors. It was found at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, outside Rome, and reached the Museum through the collection of Charles Townley. Townley was a British collector of classical antiquities. In the Enlightenment gallery, the statue also belongs to a history of assembling, restoring and classifying ancient objects. Its repaired head gives you something concrete to test. A confident-looking complete figure can preserve a mistaken decision about how an ancient body should move.