Milo of Croton

Although often mistaken for a mythological figure, Milo of Croton was, in fact, a Greek wrestler living in the 6th century BC, who is also credited with having led his fellow citizens to military victory over the neighbouring city of Sybaris in 510 BC. Today he is best known for the story surrounding his death, which relates that when showing his great strength by trying to tear apart a tree, his hand became stuck and he was devoured by a lion. He became a popular allegorical figure in literature and art as he was said to represent the folly of brute strength without wisdom.
In sculpture, the scene was depicted by several artists including Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791), Edmé Dumont (1720-1775) and Pierre Puget (1620-1694; all three now Louvre, Paris, see Gaborit, locs. cit.). The marble group executed by the latter was carved from a colossal block of marble originally delivered to Toulon for Puget’s use in 1670, although the finished group was not delivered to Versailles until 1683. Puget’s marble is a strongly diagonal composition and betrays some of the baroque influences the sculptor absorbed during prolonged stays in Rome and Genoa. Although the present marble group is somewhat more spiral in its composition, it still shares many stylistic similarities with Puget’s marble including the dynamic sense of struggle and the somewhat anthropomorphic lion who savagely tears at the hero with his teeth and claws. The sense of drama is heightened by the twisting pose of Milo in the lot offered here, and both marbles share the distinctive head tilted back in anguish with the square-shaped face and tightly curled hair.