The Kritios Boy is the best surviving example of the transitional phase of Greek sculpture between the late Archaic style and the early Classical. Gone is the formulaic anatomy and stiffness of the kouros pose. All archaic figures shared the weight on both legs, even though one is advanced; here the weight is taken mainly on the left leg, leading to a tilt of the hips and slight lateral sway of the spine.
However, we should not interpret too much from the statue’s head as it probably does not belong with the rest. It was found separately from and later than the torso, to which it was over-enthusiastically joined.
Unlike many of the male and female standing figures from the Acropolis, the Kritios Boy is not thought to be a victim of the Persian destruction in 480 and 479 BCE
Athens, Acropolis Museum 698
Purchased 1930 (?)
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 106 (n.14)
Schrader: Archaischen Marmorbildwerke des Akropolis (1939), 191-
Payne & Young: Archaic Marble Sculpture from the Acropolis, 44-
Dickins: Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum I, 264
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 30, no.114 (?)
Richter: Kouroi (1970), 149
Hurwit: The Athenian Acropolis (1999), 147
Acropolis Athens
