Priapus. Hellenism, Greece, 2nd - 1st century BC.

Priapus. Hellenism, Greece, 2nd - 1st century BC.
Marble.
Provenance: Private collection, London, acquired between the 1960s and 1980s.
Good state of preservation, no restorations. It has lost the left forearm and the lower part of the legs.
Measurements: 24 cm high.

This sculpture entirely made of marble represents Priapus, carved in round bulk. He was a minor god, a rustic divinity of fertility. His main attribute is a large erect phallus, symbol of the fertilizing force of nature. Here he is shown smiling and wrapped in an open tunic that slides down his shoulders and exposes his genitals. During the Hellenistic period, Greek sculpture underwent a major transformation, and this was particularly noticeable in the capture of emotions. This is magnificently expressed in the laughing countenance of our Priapus.
Hellenistic sculpture represents the final period of the evolution of Greek sculpture, and developed in the period between the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C., and the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, between 30 and 31 B.C. It is an eclectic, secular and historicist language, which takes as its starting point the heritage of classical sculpture of the previous period, to which new oriental influences are added. It also meant the improvement of the representation of the anatomy and human emotional expressiveness, as well as a fundamental change in aesthetics, which leaves aside the ideal to represent the individual, moving from the generic to the specific. Thus, the previous ethical and pedagogical ideal is abandoned in favor of a new emphasis on everyday human aspects, in an art that will have the aesthetic as its main purpose, although occasionally it will also be propagandistic. This new interest in man and his inner life, his emotions, problems and longings, will result in a realistic style that has to emphasize the dramatic, the prosaic and movement. In addition, Hellenism brought the first individualized and plausible portraits of Western art. The subject matter will also be expanded to include depictions of old age and childhood, minor non-Olympian deities and secondary characters from mythology, as well as popular figures in their daily work.