Damoxenus – Sculpture in La Serena

Damoxenus of Syracuse was the boxer who faced Creugas of Epidamnus in a contest recounted by Pausanias. As evening approached without a winner, the athletes agreed to receive one blow each. Creugas struck Damoxenus on the head; Damoxenus then asked him to raise his arm and attacked beneath the ribs with his fingers extended, killing him. The Argives judged that he had broken the agreement by delivering the equivalent of multiple blows, expelled him and awarded the dead Creugas the victory.

Antonio Canova developed Damoxenus between 1795 and 1806 as the companion to Creugas. Rather than depicting the fatal wound, the composition concentrates on the instant before the attack: the boxer advances, twists his torso, holds one fist against his chest and draws the opposite arm back. The controlled pose and idealised anatomy transform the violence of the episode into a moral and compositional contrast between the two figures. Canova's marble pair is preserved in the Pio-Clementino Museum of the Vatican Museums.

The version installed on Avenida Francisco de Aguirre is a modern reproduction in white statuary marble measuring 1.59 metres. Gabriel González Videla's historical catalogue records it as «Demoxeno», documents its purchase in Rome from the Cesare della Seta Gallery on Via del Babuino and links it with the sculptural programme created for Plan Serena. The reproduction forms the narrative counterpart to Creugas, acquired from the same Roman gallery.

The available documentation does not identify the sculptor or marble workshop that made the La Serena reproduction, establish its exact carving date or demonstrate the method used to transfer Canova's model. The attribution to Antonio Canova therefore refers to the original composition, not to the material execution of the local marble.