Collection record · Objects & craft
Wild Man
The collection record classifies this work as sculpture. It is dated late 1400s. Recorded culture or place: Germany, Nuremberg(?).
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Wild Man
- Date
- late 1400s
- Culture / origin
- Germany, Nuremberg(?)
- Materials and technique
- copper alloy
- Dimensions
- Overall: 13.4 cm (5 1/4 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1965.21
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Common in medieval art, the wild man is humanlike in appearance with long shaggy hair over his entire body and typically carries a club. Living at the fringe of society in woodland areas, wild men symbolized man in his natural, uncivilized state. Perhaps derived from the part-man part-beast satyr of antiquity, the wild man symbolized lust and aggression in contrast to the spiritual love embodied in medieval chivalry. This bearded version is shown kneeling while raising his right arm holding a club. He wears a twisted cloth circlet on his head and a similar belt at the waist. It has been suggested that this sculpture originally formed part of a suspended candelabra. It may also have served as support for large metal vessels.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund, and James Parmelee Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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