Why sculpt a drunken old woman?
A youth of such lustful vanity to make even our jaded culture blush?
A defeated athelete or the death throes of a hated barbarian?
Why?

THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE IS UNPARALLELED IN HISTORY. FROM THE RE-EMERGENCE OF SIMPLE FIGURATIVE IMAGERY IN THE GEOMETRIC PERIOD TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE HELLENISTIC THE QUALITY OF THIS WORK IS MIRACULOUS. THE WEST IS OF AND FROM THESE PIECES-WHETHER
IN AWE OR DISGUST-THE VERY ESSENCE OF WESTERN AESTHETICS IS ESTABLISHED.


Note: The final piece is of particular interest- The Belvedere Torso was believed to have been the seminal influence on Michaelangelo's endless attempts to rival the great Hellenistic sculptors.