Katharine Russell and the Terme Boxer
In Conversation With is a new weekly series where we ask friends of the Museum to tell us about their favourite object – and what it means to them.
Katharine Russell read Classics at King’s College, Cambridge and now teaches it at Chesterton Community College. She strikes up a conversation with the Terme Boxer.
Katharine empathises with our cast of the Terme Boxer, which was treated in 2015 to replicate the original's complex polychromy. The image in the background is a photograph of the original during its discovery, and is reproduced with kind permission of the Sovriendenza ai Beni Culturali del Commune di Roma, Museo di Roma, Archivio Fotografico.
'I love the bronze boxer because he is caught in a moment of unexpected vulnerability. He is a man who, despite appearing strong and athletic, is visibly worn out, tired and hurting.
'His copper wounds, broken nose and cauliflower ear tell a story of past fights endured, whilst his upturned head seems to appeal to somebody to make it stop.'
Want to see the Terme Boxer yourself? Katharine's favourite cast can be found in Bay J.
Want to know more about how we bronzed the Terme Boxer? Watch a video of the whole process. (Look carefully and you might spot one of the younger member's of the MOCA team, who was the subject of last week's In Conversation With.)