This gentleman was an Estonian-Russian wrestler. Just as today, wrestlers impressed their audiences with their physiques as well as their wrestling skill.

In the picture at right, Lurich flexes his mighty biceps and in the graceful, yet powerful pose at right, lets us know that he is as powerful as the legendary "Hercules" (or "Heracles" as the Greeks called him). He carries a knotted oak club called a "robur" which legend tell us is always held by Hercules. It's Hercules' trademark, and such devices are used in subsequent sculptures, paintings and even architectural detail and decoration to associate the piece with the myth. So Lurich holding the club implies specifically that he is "like Hercules."

Pillars are often associated with early bodybuilding photographs, as well. Often to suggest the bodybuilder is actually a statue standing in front of an ancient sturcture and is as classically handsome and enduring as the monument, but also they served to steady the subject for the camera, since the aparture was very slow in the early days of photography.

Below right, we see the famous wrestler in a relaxed pose that allows him to display his brawny back to advantage.

(Thanks to Greg Krieger for these great photos and Deborah Oliver for her insightful observations included in the text above)