Where did Michelangelo and the old Greek and Roman sculptors get their models? Did your average Joe look like a bodybuilder 500-2000 years ago?

by squidravioli

These sculptures are totally jacked by modern standards, and a modern bodybuilder would have to very deliberately lift weights and pay close attention to nutrition. Even the "strongmen" from 100 years ago don't look nearly as impressive.

NobleSansTitre

No. These were idealized concepts of male beauty and strength. So while the statues themselves are impressive (and IMHO beautiful), they are not meant to be physical representations. For example, the pose of the Riace Bronze men. These two bronze cast statues were made by the artist to amplify every naturally occurring muscle. The training regimen to achieve this would require precise isolation workouts of muscle groups over years of training. When studied closely, recent research has also shown that the pose these two hold is impossible for a man to hold in real life - the wight balance required to portray the men as both moving and still simultaneously is not a realistic position for a human to hold. As if to further emphasize this point, the statues themselves have to buttressed with support to stand upright. These statues portray an ideal of beauty, one that is far from realistic.