So that statue I referred to earlier that FW2 made off with, is one of those Greco-Roman statues of a naked young man, of which various copies were made. No one really knows who or what it's supposed to depict, afaik, but one of the names it's been called by, including in Fritz's time, was Antinous.
Now, Antinous was the boyfriend of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Antinous died under mysterious circumstances when he was still young and beautiful. Hadrian was devastated and deified him and commemorated him all over the place. Among the possible explanations for his mysterious death was that he was a human sacrifice as part of some religious ritual meant to prolong Hadrian's life.
It has been speculated that "naked statue of guy who died young and may have sacrificed himself in order to save his boyfriend the emperor," placed near Fritz's selected future grave site and in view of his bedroom/study window (yes, his grave is quite near his bedroom/study, memento mori I guess), was Fritz's silent tribute to one Hans Hermann von Katte.
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
The statue is now called "Praying Boy" (it having been acknowledged by responsible art historians that it actually predates Antinous), and a copy is back at Fritz's grave, the original being in a Berlin museum. I super wish I had known this when I was in that museum, dammit! (Or when I was at his grave.)
Mostly I was excited, though, about finding the Velletri Pallas (Athena) bust acquired by Fritz (Velletri Pallas being my all-time favorite work of art, and I had a plaster copy in my own study until it began to disintegrate; I'm still angry about that and planning on finding a more durable one once my disability situation sorts itself out and I can afford it again), because Athena is one avatar of this Mary Sue character I've had in my head all my life, and in my mental Mary Sue bio, there's one whole volume devoted to her and Fritz, because if you think Athena would not have been ALL OVER Frederick the Great, you should reread the Odyssey. ;)
Re: Our Insane Family: The Next Generation
Now, Antinous was the boyfriend of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Antinous died under mysterious circumstances when he was still young and beautiful. Hadrian was devastated and deified him and commemorated him all over the place. Among the possible explanations for his mysterious death was that he was a human sacrifice as part of some religious ritual meant to prolong Hadrian's life.
It has been speculated that "naked statue of guy who died young and may have sacrificed himself in order to save his boyfriend the emperor," placed near Fritz's selected future grave site and in view of his bedroom/study window (yes, his grave is quite near his bedroom/study, memento mori I guess), was Fritz's silent tribute to one Hans Hermann von Katte.
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
The statue is now called "Praying Boy" (it having been acknowledged by responsible art historians that it actually predates Antinous), and a copy is back at Fritz's grave, the original being in a Berlin museum. I super wish I had known this when I was in that museum, dammit! (Or when I was at his grave.)
Mostly I was excited, though, about finding the Velletri Pallas (Athena) bust acquired by Fritz (Velletri Pallas being my all-time favorite work of art, and I had a plaster copy in my own study until it began to disintegrate; I'm still angry about that and planning on finding a more durable one once my disability situation sorts itself out and I can afford it again), because Athena is one avatar of this Mary Sue character I've had in my head all my life, and in my mental Mary Sue bio, there's one whole volume devoted to her and Fritz, because if you think Athena would not have been ALL OVER Frederick the Great, you should reread the Odyssey. ;)