Warrior's foot; Rome, Hellenistic period, 1st century BC-AD 1st century.
Terracotta.
It shows traces of an ancient label.
Provenance; private collection (Madrid).
Measurements: 9 x 2.5 x 4.5 cm; 13 cm (base).
Fragment of terracotta sculpture representing the leg and foot of a warrior, found in Egypt in 1912. Characteristic that can be deduced from both the sandal and the musculature of the leg. The Romans brought two important innovations to the world of sculpture: portraiture and historical relief, neither of which existed in the Greek world. However, they followed Greek models for much of their sculptural production, a basis which in Rome was combined with the Etruscan tradition. After the first contacts with Classical Greece via the Magna Graecia colonies, the Romans conquered Syracuse in 212 BC, a rich and important Greek colony in Sicily, which was adorned with a large number of Hellenistic works. The city was sacked and its artistic treasures taken to Rome, where the new style of these works soon replaced the Etruscan-Roman tradition that had prevailed until then. Shortly afterwards, in 133 BC, the Empire inherited the kingdom of Pergamon, where there was an original and thriving school of Hellenistic sculpture.