Contrapposto: Style and Meaning in Renaissance Art

It was thought for a long time that the Torso Belvedere was discovered in the Campo dei Fiori during the years of the reign of Julius II. In 1899, however, Lanciani argued that it was not the Torso Belvedere that had been found then but rather most probably the sadly mutilated torso of a Discobolos, now almost completely disguised in its restoration as a gladiator in the Capitoline Museum.2 A drawing of the torso in the Library of Christ Church College, Oxford (Fig. 1), published by Lanciani, is dated by inscription to 1513, the year of Julius II's death; and the same inscription tells us that the torso was either drawn in or excavated near the house of Giovanni Ciampolini, which was in the Campo dei Fiori.3 Ciampolini's was one of the earliest collections of antiquities and his torso of the Discobolos must have been held in some regard: after his death in 1518 and that of his heir Michele in 1519, the collection was bought at a high price by Giulio Romano and Penni in 1520.4 Thus a torso of the Discobolo...