From Guy Cox
Christopher De Leon-Horton’s letter on failing to find the “Superman stance” in antiquity (4 July) may simply reflect the limitations of sculpture. The human body is large; human ankles are small; and they present a fundamental structural weakness in a sculpture.
Hence the famous Apollo Belvedere, now in the Vatican, strikes a heroic pose having just released the arrow that killed the serpent Python, with what looks like a tree stump conveniently placed to add strength to the figure. It would be hard to use such a device in a symmetrical Superman pose.
St Albans, New South Wales, Australia
