The sculpture of the victorious youth is made of bronze and was discovered in the year 1964 in the Adriatic Sea. It came from the sea in the fishing nets of the fishing equipment. It is large in size, nearly the size of a person. Initially, art scholars credited it to a great Greek sculptor known as Lysippos.However, from scholarly research it is evident that it is of Greek origin. In today’s context, scholars are less concerned with the origin of the sculpture but the original reason behind its making. After discovery, the sculpture entered the market for sale and after intense competition from potential buyers; it was finally bought by the Getty museum. This was back in the year 1977.At present; the sculpture has elicited heated debates and controversies
The sculpture has distinct iconographic features that make it easy to identify the subject depicted. The main theme of the sculpture is competition and how important winning was to the Greeks. As evidence, the youth is presented as putting or touching an olive crown on his head. An olive crown was the prize given to the winner in the Olympic Games at that time. This shows that the youth is a winner. This was the origin of the name of the sculpture, the victorious youth. Another notable feature of the sculpture is the body form of the youth. The youth has an admirable physique characteristic of athletes: strong and muscular hands and legs. The nudity of the youth accentuates the nice physique. The nudity further exposes all the features of the youth that are a sign of good health and perfection. All these features are proportional to body size. The body physique is an expression of perfection and vitality that stems from training, an important factor in training.
The sculptor’s intention was to celebrate the Greek’s high value for competition and victory. Historically, Greeks are known for their running ability and as such, they treasured winning a lot. Winning was a result of intense training that led to a nice physique and body as depicted in the statue. There is a high probability that the sculptor of the victorious youth was also expressing certain political sentiments. Just like athletics, politics was an important issue to the Greeks. The ideas of perfection and victory were also important in politics. The sculptor could have been presenting the ideal person for politics just as the athlete with a perfect physique was ideal for victory.
The statue has features that qualify it as a classical masterpiece. The youth looks very calm and relaxed and this is a feature of classical works of art. The youth is inclining more on his right leg. This means that the right leg supports most of his body weight. This effect in art is known as “contrapposto” and it is a feature of classical Greek statuary. That qualifies the victorious youth as a classical piece of Greek art.
Upon discovery, the statue was in a bad state and underwent repairs to restore it by replacing missing parts. It was broken at the knee and therefore, not resting on its original base. As such, the sculpture lacks feet and rests on a single leg with a single piece of metal bar that connects it to the resting base.