Orpheus, Eurydice & Hermes Reduction – Item #531 Caproni Collection

11 Inches High x 9.375 Inches Wide x 1.25 Inches Deep

This reduction of the original (the full-sized reproduction is Item #198) represents the moment in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice when, granted permission to conduct his wife out of Hades, Orpheus stops to gaze upon her and is punished for this disobedience by Hermes, who grasps Eurydice to guide her back to the underworld. In the relief, Hermes is seen on the left holding Eurydice’s arm. He wears the common chiton with a chlamys (cloak) – a recognizable garment of Hermes – while hanging from his neck onto his back is a petasos (traveler’s hat). Eurydice, wearing a dress called a peplos and a veil, touches Orpheus’s shoulder with her left hand, and he touches her hand with his. Orpheus wears a chiton and a chlamydon (a type of cloak) as well as a cap. In his left hand, Orpheus holds the lyre he played to convince Hades and Persephone to let Eurydice return to the living. This piece is a Roman copy of a Greek original dating from the end of the fifth century B.C.E. that was likely one in a series of three reliefs. It was produced in the school of Phidias, and the artist may have been Alkamenes.

Artist: Unknown

Museum: National Archaeological Museum, Naples

Time Period: Ancient Greek, 5th century B.C.E./Ancient Roman, 27 B.C.E. – 14 C.E.

1911 Catalog ID # – 8051

Sources:

“Hermes, Orpheus, Eurydice.” University of Kansas Wilcox Classical Museum, https://wilcox.ku.edu/%C2%A0%C2%A0hermes-orpheus-eurydice.

“Relief depicting Orpheus and Eurydice (6727).” National Archaeological Museum of Naples, http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museoarcheologiconazionale/percorso/nel-museo/P_RA22/RIT_RA328/scheda_view?page=13&rows=1&cols=1.

“Sculptures of Roman Campania: Orpheus and Eurydice.” Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/room-and-sections-of-the-exhibition/sculptures-of-roman-campania/.