Funeral relief of a young spearbearer walking with his horse. The figure is closely derived from the free-standing Doryphoros of Polykleitos. It was found at Argos, which was Polykleitos’s place of birth.
The heavy spear of the original, a weapon of war, has been converted into an athlete’s javelin for the purposes of this relief; the hair of the young man appears to be tied like that of an athlete, and there are no symbols of battle in the scene
Athens National Museum 3153
Purchased in 1884 from Martinelli of Athens
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 163 (n.14 – actually on next page)
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), 248, fig.649
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 64, no.285
Papaspiridi: Guide du Musée Nationale d’Athènes (1927), 266
Found at Argos
