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拍品專文
Narcissus, the son of the Boeotian river-god Kephisos and the nymph Leiriope, was prophesied a long life by the seer Teiresias, provided that he did not see himself. The youth was famed for his beauty, and many tried in vain to win his love. One rejected lover asked the gods for revenge, and this was fulfilled by Nemesis. While out hunting, Narcissus came to a spring for a drink, and when he saw his reflection in the water, he instantly fell in love with his own image. Unable to pull himself away, he died, either from exhaustion, unrequited love, or drowning. A narcissus flower was said to have grown at the spot where he met his death (for a discussion of Narcissus in Roman mythology and the various literary sources, see p. 703 in B. Rafn, op. cit.).
This splendid depiction of Narcissus shows the youth standing in contrapposto, his weight on his left leg and his right at ease. He is depicted nude, standing with his arms over his head, with his right hand clasping his left wrist. He looks down and to his left with his long, luxurious locks falling onto his shoulders. A support in the form of a tree trunk abuts the back of his left leg and a mortice is present on his right shoulder, likely to accommodate the inclusion of a now-missing separately-made figure of Eros. The statue was expertly resorted in the 18th-19th century, including the base and tree trunk support along with the lower part of the left leg from the knee down; the right leg from below the hip; the genitalia and parts of the buttocks; some small areas to the upper right arm and shoulder and to the left elbow and shoulder; the fingers of the right hand; the crown of the head; and to areas of the nose, lips, chin and left eye.
While S. Reinach (op. cit.) proposed that this statue might represent a funerary genius, E. Strong (op. cit.) argued that it must represent Narcissus, an attribution that every subsequent publication has endorsed. Specifically, Strong points to two figures nearly identical to the present marble on either end of the front panel of a sarcophagus in the Vatican (Galleria Lapidaria, inv. no. 169, see no. 150 in C. Reinsberg, Die Sarkophage mit Darstellungen aus dem Menschenleben, vol. III). These Narcissus figures are “shown, according to myth, looking at his reflection in the water, naïvely indicated by a mask-like face on the ground, to which a small Eros draws his attention.” The Eros once likely perched on this figure’s shoulder would have similarly urged the youth to admire his own image. For similar examples, see the one at the Louvre (inv. no. MA435) and in Venice, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (inv. no. 224), nos. 21 and 41 in B. Rafn, op. cit.
The Narcissus presented here has a notable modern history. It was first documented in the collection of John Watkins Brett, an English engineer who laid the first successful underwater telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, connecting the United Kingdom and Nova Scotia. After being dispersed at Brett’s 1864 posthumous auction at Christie’s, it was subsequently recorded in the collection of Sir Charles Robinson, a painter, curator, and founder of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. From Robinson, the statue passed – perhaps most notably – into the collection of Alfred Moritz Mond, Lord Melchett of Landford, son of the industrialist Alfred Mond and a distinguished collector of ancient sculpture, who in 1928 commissioned the archaeologist Eugénie Strong to produce an illustrated catalogue of his collection. Strong’s publication, in which this Narcissus prominently appears, is an important document relating to the collecting of ancient art in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century. When Lord Melchett’s heirs sold his collection at auction in 1951, it was acquired by E. Christopher Norris, an art historian considered to be one of the leading experts on the works of Peter Paul Rubens.
This splendid depiction of Narcissus shows the youth standing in contrapposto, his weight on his left leg and his right at ease. He is depicted nude, standing with his arms over his head, with his right hand clasping his left wrist. He looks down and to his left with his long, luxurious locks falling onto his shoulders. A support in the form of a tree trunk abuts the back of his left leg and a mortice is present on his right shoulder, likely to accommodate the inclusion of a now-missing separately-made figure of Eros. The statue was expertly resorted in the 18th-19th century, including the base and tree trunk support along with the lower part of the left leg from the knee down; the right leg from below the hip; the genitalia and parts of the buttocks; some small areas to the upper right arm and shoulder and to the left elbow and shoulder; the fingers of the right hand; the crown of the head; and to areas of the nose, lips, chin and left eye.
While S. Reinach (op. cit.) proposed that this statue might represent a funerary genius, E. Strong (op. cit.) argued that it must represent Narcissus, an attribution that every subsequent publication has endorsed. Specifically, Strong points to two figures nearly identical to the present marble on either end of the front panel of a sarcophagus in the Vatican (Galleria Lapidaria, inv. no. 169, see no. 150 in C. Reinsberg, Die Sarkophage mit Darstellungen aus dem Menschenleben, vol. III). These Narcissus figures are “shown, according to myth, looking at his reflection in the water, naïvely indicated by a mask-like face on the ground, to which a small Eros draws his attention.” The Eros once likely perched on this figure’s shoulder would have similarly urged the youth to admire his own image. For similar examples, see the one at the Louvre (inv. no. MA435) and in Venice, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (inv. no. 224), nos. 21 and 41 in B. Rafn, op. cit.
The Narcissus presented here has a notable modern history. It was first documented in the collection of John Watkins Brett, an English engineer who laid the first successful underwater telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, connecting the United Kingdom and Nova Scotia. After being dispersed at Brett’s 1864 posthumous auction at Christie’s, it was subsequently recorded in the collection of Sir Charles Robinson, a painter, curator, and founder of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. From Robinson, the statue passed – perhaps most notably – into the collection of Alfred Moritz Mond, Lord Melchett of Landford, son of the industrialist Alfred Mond and a distinguished collector of ancient sculpture, who in 1928 commissioned the archaeologist Eugénie Strong to produce an illustrated catalogue of his collection. Strong’s publication, in which this Narcissus prominently appears, is an important document relating to the collecting of ancient art in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century. When Lord Melchett’s heirs sold his collection at auction in 1951, it was acquired by E. Christopher Norris, an art historian considered to be one of the leading experts on the works of Peter Paul Rubens.