Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful.”~Ralph Waldo Emerson
This handsome and mysterious man spoke to my imagination. He caught my eye in the garden of the Southampton Center several summers ago. Who is he? A prince, perhaps? How did this gentleman from another era and a distant place, no doubt, make his way to Long Island–of all places?
Unknown Sculpture, Southampton Cultural Center, Long Island, New York
I have tracked down just one clue. I believe he is a copy of an original Renaissance sculpture from the Vatican in Rome, part of the collection of Samuel Longstreth Parrish who opened his own art museum in Southampton in 1898.
Do any of you know who this mysterious (and gorgeous) man is and whose image is he holding? Does anyone know who sculpted this work? Was it Donatello? There’s no end to the mystery.
His photo is my entry to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness photo challenge. Have a great week, everyone! May it surprise and delight you.
Categories: Photography
P.A. Moed 
This statue certainly evokes many thoughts. Well done.
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So glad he sparked your curiosity, too. Have a great week, Sally.
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He does look quite regal! Maybe he was a banker or merchant, since he is holding a coin — a very large coin at that. 🙂
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“Spoken” like true writer. I can “see” the wheels of your imagination turning. 🙂 I wonder if he’s holding some sort of emblem or badge belonging to his leader. It does seem too large to be a coin.
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For one thing he is holding a coin with Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici’s face. De’ Medici was an Italian banker and politician, the first of the Medici political dynasty and crucial Florence patron during much of the Italian Renaissance and patron of Donatello’s work.
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I was thinking the younger man was a De Medici, but it makes sense that he would be holding the coin or emblem of his patron or lord–a Medici. Wonderful, Maria! Thanks!!
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A Medici perhaps was what I was thinking as well. Good entry!
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Yeah, yet another Medici, Ludovico pops into my head..I don’t know why and I shouldn’t really know who it is but they did figure large in their influence on the arts and I rather like the arts. 🙂
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His name popped into my head too. 🙂 I’ll keep searching….Thanks for your thoughts.
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