Belvedere Torso Self-researched

Artist: Apollonios
Location: Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Medium: Marble
Date: 1st century BC (likely a copy of an earlier 2nd century BC Greek bronze)

A 1.59-metre-tall fragmentary marble statue of a seated male nude, known to be in Rome since the 1430s. The identity of the figure remains debated—traditionally identified as Hercules seated on the lion skin, though recent scholarship suggests Ajax contemplating suicide.

The statue profoundly influenced Renaissance artists, particularly Michelangelo, who called it his "teacher" and used it as inspiration for figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. When Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to complete the statue with limbs and a head, he refused, declaring it too beautiful to alter.