Hermes with Infant Dionysus. Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, also known as the Hermes of Praxiteles or the Hermes of Olympia is an ancient Greek sculpture of Hermes and the infant Dionysus discovered in 1877 in the ruins of the Temple of Hera, Olympia, in Greece.
It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. It is traditionally attributed to Praxiteles and dated to the 4th century BC, based on a remark by the 2nd century Greek traveller Pausanias, and has made a major contribution to the definition of Praxitelean style.
Its attribution is, however, the object of fierce controversy among art historians. The sculpture is unlikely to have been one of Praxiteles' famous works, as no ancient replicas of it have been identified.
The documentary evidence associating the work with Praxiteles is based on a passing mention by the 2nd-century AD traveller Pausanias. The Olympia site was hit by an earthquake during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian in the final years of the third century C.E, collapsing the roof of the Temple of Hera and burying the statue in rubble.
In 1874, the Greek state signed an agreement with Germany for an archaeological exploration of the Olympia site, which was first dug in the French Morea expedition of 1829. The German excavations in 1875 were led by Ernst Curtius. On 8 May 1877, in the temple of Hera, he uncovered the body of a statue of a young man resting against a tr
It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. It is traditionally attributed to Praxiteles and dated to the 4th century BC, based on a remark by the 2nd century Greek traveller Pausanias, and has made a major contribution to the definition of Praxitelean style.
Its attribution is, however, the object of fierce controversy among art historians. The sculpture is unlikely to have been one of Praxiteles' famous works, as no ancient replicas of it have been identified.
The documentary evidence associating the work with Praxiteles is based on a passing mention by the 2nd-century AD traveller Pausanias. The Olympia site was hit by an earthquake during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian in the final years of the third century C.E, collapsing the roof of the Temple of Hera and burying the statue in rubble.
In 1874, the Greek state signed an agreement with Germany for an archaeological exploration of the Olympia site, which was first dug in the French Morea expedition of 1829. The German excavations in 1875 were led by Ernst Curtius. On 8 May 1877, in the temple of Hera, he uncovered the body of a statue of a young man resting against a tr
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