The Apoxyomenos (the Scraper ) is a bronze statue of Lysippus, datable to about 330-320 BC and today known only by a marble copy of the Claudian age of the Pio-Clementine Museum in the Vatican City.
The Apoxyomenos depicts a young athlete in the act of cleaning his body with a metal scraper, which the Romans called “strigilis” (curries). It was an instrument of the time, of metal, iron or bronze, which was used only by men and, mainly, by athletes to clean themselves from dust, sweat and excess oil that was spread on the skin before the fight races. The athlete is then depicted in a moment following the competition, in an act that unites the winner and the won.
With the gesture of carrying the arms forward (stretched the right hand and bent the left), the figure marked a definitive break from the traditional frontal sculpture of Greek art: the previous statue had in fact the optimal point of view in front, while in this case you have to turn around him to fully enjoy the subject. With this innovation, the work is considered the first fully-rounded sculpture of Greek art. But here we see only the subject's head, divided from the body, which presents a classic portrait of a young boy with a serious and lowered look.
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