An Athlete Wrestling with a Python《与巨蟒搏斗的运动员》

An Athlete Wrestling with a Python was the first of three bronze sculptures produced by the British artist Frederic Leighton. Completed in 1877， the sculpture was a departure for Leighton， and heralded the advent of a new movement， New Sculpture， taking realistic approach to classical models.

英国画家弗雷德里克·莱顿创作过三件青铜雕塑，《与巨蟒搏斗的运动员》是其中的第一件。这件雕塑完成于1877年，是莱顿新的尝试，也开启了名为“新雕塑”的艺术新运动，采用现实主义手法来表现古典形象。

This life-size bronze sculpture depicts a dramatic scene of life and death， with a classically proportioned male nude wrestling with a large snake. It may have been inspired by the story of Apollo slaying the Python of Delphi.

这件真人大小的青铜雕塑描绘了一个戏剧性的生死场面：一个黄金比例身材的裸体男子与一条大蛇搏斗。作品灵感可能来自太阳神阿波罗杀死德尔斐巨蟒的故事。

The male， a muscular athlete crowned with a wreath， is standing with his legs apart， holding the python’s head away with his right hand， while grasping its body with his left hand behind his back. The python， locking eyes with the athlete， has thrown two coils around his left thigh and its body curves around his back， but its mouth gapes wide in the throes of death as it is being throttled. The work depicts the musculature of the figure and the scales of the serpent realistically， with contrasting textures. The work was designed in a spiral， so it must be viewed in the round from a variety of angles.

这个男子是个肌肉发达的运动员，头戴花环，双腿分立，右手伸出抓着蟒头，左手从背后抓着蟒身。巨蟒死盯着运动员，在其左大腿上盘了两圈，身体绕过其背，但蟒嘴大张，显出濒死的痛苦，它快被勒死了。作品逼真描绘了人物的肌肉结构和蟒蛇的鳞片，纹理线条鲜明。该作品被设计成螺旋形，所以须从不同角度观看才能欣赏全貌。

The sculpture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877. Joseph Edgar Boehm， Queen Victoria’s Sculptor in Ordinary， wrote to Leighton that it was “superb. I think it the best statue of modern days.” The art critic Edmund Gosse saw it was “something wholly new， propounded by a painter to the professional sculptors and displaying a juster and livelier sense of what their art should be than they themselves had ever dreamed of”. The Athenaeum praised the work， saying Leighton had “selected a subject full of passion， and dealt with it in correspondingly energetic manner， and in a style that suited the subject， adopting a vigorous， and， to some extent， massive style”.

该雕塑于1877年在皇家美术学院展出。维多利亚女王的御用雕塑师约瑟夫·埃德加·伯姆给莱顿去信表示：“（这件雕塑）棒极了，我认为是现代最好的雕塑。”艺术评论家埃德蒙·戈斯认为，这是“一件全新的东西，由一位画家呈现给专业雕塑家，告诉他们雕塑该有的样子——比他们自己梦想中的更合理、更生动”。《雅典娜神殿》杂志对这一作品赞赏有加，称莱顿“选择了一个充满激情的主题，并以同样充满活力的方式和切合主题的风格进行创作——这是一种富有冲击力，且在某种程度上可称为宏大的风格”。

It won the gold medal for sculpture at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. It was purchased for £2，000 by the Chantrey Bequest on behalf of the British nation， making it the first sculpture acquired for the national art collection in that manner. It is still held by Tate Britain.

这件雕塑在1878年的巴黎世界博览会上获得了雕塑金奖。钱特里遗赠基金代表英国以2000英镑的价格买下了这一作品，使它成为以这种方式进入英国艺术收藏库的首件雕塑。该作品目前仍藏于泰特英国美术馆。