Belvedere Torso

The Belvedere Torso is a fragmentary marble statue of a nude male.  The figure is portrayed seated on an animal hide, and its precise identification remains open to debate. Though traditionally identified as a Heracles seated on the skin of the Nemean lion, recent studies have identified the skin as that of a panther, occasioning other identifications (possibilities include Hercules, Polyphemus and Marsyas, among others.) According to the Vatican Museum website "the most favoured hypothesis identifies it with Ajax, the son of Telamon, in the act of contemplating his suicide". It was once believed to be a 1st-century BC original, but is now believed to be a copy from the 1st century BC or AD of an older statue, which probably dated to the early 2nd century BC. The contorted pose of the torso and musculature were highly influential on Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque artists, including Michelangelo and Raphael. Michelangelo's admiration of the Torso was widely known in his lifetime