Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Item

The Political Value of the Lancellotti Discobolus

Bortot, Ilaria
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
The Lancellotti Discobolus is the best-preserved marble Roman copy of the lost Greek bronze by Myron. Its beauty and formal perfection have made the statue one of the most famous artworks from classical antiquity, and it has been widely examined from an artistic point of view. However, a complete study of the history of the statue has unveiled a component that has been often neglected and underestimated; its political value. The Lancellotti Discobolus was indeed the very first artwork that was illegally acquired by Hitler in 1937, and that opened the way to the Nazi plunder throughout Italy. This copy of Myron’s Discobolus played a significant role in the alliance between Hitler and Mussolini and, after their defeat and its own repatriation in 1948, the statue became the symbol of post-war Italy. Furthermore, analysis of the Italian and German mass media, before and after the war, allows the understanding of people’s perception of the statue, and, consequently, the successful outcome of its political role. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine, through a complementary study of artistic, legal, historical and political sources, how the Lancellotti Discobolus was represented by Nazi Germany and post-war Italy, and how its political value changed accordingly.
Description
Thesis (B.A. in Art History and International Affairs)--John Cabot University, Spring 2020.
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Discobolus (Myron), Discobolo (Lancellotti), National socialism and architecture, National socialism and architecture, National socialism in art, Fascism in art
Citation
Bortot, Ilaria. "The Political Value of the Lancellotti Discobolus". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2020.
DOI
URL
Embedded videos