C19th Bust of Ajax (c. 1840 Italy)

Scone Palace.

Scone Palace, Perthshire, was built by William Atkinson, a pupil of James Wyatt, for the 3rd Earl of Mansfield in the early part of the 19th Century.

A GOOD WHITE MARBLE BUST OF AJAX AFTER THE ANTIQUE

Italian

Circa 1820.

Ajax shown with head turned slightly to sinister, the helmet carved with a band
of laurel leaves, on a waisted turned white marble socle.

Also known as Menelaos or sometimes Hercules, the present bust of Ajax is taken from the Antique group depicting the hero carrying the body of the dying Patroclus,
fatally wounded by Hector, as recounted in Homer’s Iliad, books XVI and XVII. Thought to be replicas of a Pergamene original dating from between 240 and 230 B.C.
three versions of the group exist and are to be found on the Piazza del Pasquino, Rome and in the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.

The myth of Ajax relates that the Greek Hero, disappointed at having lost his claim to Achilles’ weapons following the latter’s death, went insane and killed himself. After his death he was transformed into a flower, often shown as a larkspur, though in Poussin’s
‘Garden of Flora’ ( now in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden ) he is depicted as a carnation.



Measurements: 29.5 “ ( 75 cm ) High