They knew that art would be the only thing that survives them. Their legacy was in their statues, because bodies would not remain, buildings would crumble and bones reduced to dust. All that’s left would be the art. Look at the “Boxer at Rest” statue below. The realism of it is mesmerizing. This is what a boxer looks like, today. Nothing changed.
It’s universal. It transcends time. And it doesn’t hide the ugly truth, either. If you zoom in a little on the side of the head, you’ll see the boxer has a typical “cauliflower ear” one sees in a martial artist who’s been bashed around the head one too many times:
The boxer, when he sat for this statue, was aware he would die, as all men do. But he must have known, too, that in art he would be immortal. The bronze and marble never lies, it’s the most honest substance on God’s green earth. It would take nearly 2000 years before the Renaissance came along and this level of realism was once again realized…
What amazes me most about “Boxer at Rest” and other such works is that this statue was created abour 300 years before the birth of Christ. And yet even today, you’ll have a hard time finding artists skilled enough to recreate the image of a man in such sublime and hyper-realistic detail.
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