Philopoemen

Inscriptions

On tree stump: DAVID / D'ANGERS / 1837; on front of base: PHILOPOEMEN; on proper left side of base: Poux Cooperateur, Ciseleur, Modeleur. / Dept. de la Seine.

Label

We know about the ancient Greek military leader Philopoemen of Megalopolis (253–184 BCE) from the writings of Plutarch (46–119 CE). The heroic warrior famously pulled a javelin from his thigh before leading his army to victory over Sparta at the Battle of Sellasia (222 BCE).

David’s remarkable conception here deftly balances a Neoclassical purity of form with a psychological acuity typical of Romanticism, portraying Philopoemen as struggling to retain his composure in the face of excruciating pain. As the sculptor himself declared, “I am to oppose, in a single figure, the moral being and physical nature.” This exceptionally fine cast, possibly unique in this size, is based on a monumental marble (now in the Louvre, Paris) commissioned by the French government in 1832 for the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.

From the 2019 exhibition Emulating Antiquity: Nineteenth-Century European Sculpture, curated by Katherine W. Hart, Senior Curator of Collections and Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming

Course History

ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Katie Hornstein, Jane Carroll, Winter 2013

ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Katie Hornstein, Jane Carroll, Winter 2013

WRIT 5, Reviewing Ourselves: Critical Writing and Personal Values, William Craig, Fall 2015

WRIT 5, Reviewing Ourselves: Critical Writing and Personal Values, William Craig, Fall 2015

WRIT 5, Reviewing Ourselves: Critical Writing and Personal Values, William Craig, Winter 2016

WRIT 5, Expository Writing, William Craig, Winter 2019

Exhibition History

Emulating Antiquity: Nineteenth-century European Sculpture, Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-February 16, 2020.

European Drawings and Sculpture, Recent Acquisitions, David and Constance Yates, New York, New York.

Flesh and Desire [curated by Art History II Professors Jane Carroll and Katie Hornstein], Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth Collection January 7-March 4, 2013.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 18, 2008.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 20, 2009-present.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 24, 2002-September 21, 2003.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 4, 2004-January 14, 2008.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26, 1996-June 22, 1997.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-June 6, 1999.

Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 17-October 9, 2001.

Publication History

Roger Arvid Anderson, The Roger Arvid Anderson Collection, Medals, Medallions, Plaquettes and Small Reliefs, Paintings, Sculpture, Works on Paper and Textiles, San Francisco: Roger Arvid Anderson (published privately), design by David L. Wilson, 2015, p. 274-277.

Provenance

Collection of David and Constance Yates, New York, New York; sold to Roger Arvid Anderson, San Francisco, date unknown; lent to present collection 1996; sold to present collection, 2016.

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