German, 19th century, After the Antique

Walther Stechow, Schloss Hohenhaus, from circa 1885;

thence by descent to the present owner.

The present marble derives from the celebrated Capitoline Antinous in the Musei Capitolini in Rome (inv. no. MC741), which was reportedly discovered at Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli and is first recorded in the collection of Cardinal Albani in 1733. Although initially identified as Hadrian’s lover Antinous, contemporary scholarship tends to consider it a copy of an early-fourth-century Greek bronze, probably of the god Hermes. 

The present copy in marble is likely to be the result of the Grand Tour interest in classical antiquity, promoted in Germany by scholars such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The bronze handle on the marble's base indicates that the sculpture was formerly raised on a pedestal and could be revolved by hand.