Browse Items (24 total)

The Anavysos kouros, which the Getty kouros resembles closely, was originally the grave marker for a man named Croesus. He was killed in battle, and the inscription on the statue's base implores the viewer to "stop and mourn beside the tomb of…

One of the latest kouroi in the collection, the Aristodikos kouros displays a high level of naturalism. Its musculature is much more softly rendered, leaving behind the straight, surface-level lines of early kouroi. Its arms bend at the elbows,…

This fragmentary piece is part of the little that remains of this once gigantic statue. From c. 580 BCE on Delos, this enormous statue originally stood over ten meters tall and would have been taller than any of the surrounding buildings in the area.…

This document, published by the 3M Building and Commercial Services Division, details two different methods for polishing marble. One, a method in which oxalic acid is used to chemically alter the surface of the marble, is very close to the process…

This fragmentary imitation kouros, originally discovered by Jeffrey Spier in 1990, was once thought to have been carved by the same artist as the Getty kouros. A known fake, it was used as evidence to also prove the Getty kouros as a forgery.…

The Getty kouros was purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1984 after it underwent fourteen months of extensive legal and scientific testing. Supposedly originally from the collection of a doctor from Geneva, more recent evidence about the…

This colossal statue was dedicated at the Heraion of Samos. It originally stood next to the sacred way. On his thigh is an inscription reading "Isches son of Rhesis dedicated [me]." Its forms are smooth and rounded, showing the Samian preference for…

Most archaic kouroi are unique, but Kleobis and Biton are exact twins. They represent the mythical brothers Kleobis and Biton, the two pious sons of a priestess to Hera. One day, the priestess was waiting for the family oxen to come home from the…

This size comparison shows just how different kouroi can be, ranging in size from less than life-sized to monumental at over ten meters tall. Most served some sort of religious purpose, either as a votive offering or as a grave marker. Each kouros…

This kouros was originally from Actium. The statue is missing its heads, its lower legs, and its left forearm. Straight lines at ninety degree angles delineate the abdomen muscles on the torso, oddly juxtaposed with the delicately modeled pectorals…