Getty Museum

Head from a Statue of a Youth

Date

100 B.C.–A.D. 100

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Roman

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

This head of a youth was once attached to a statue or bust. The hair is short and curling; the strands of the beard are added with incisions. The eyes and eyelashes, now lost, were originally inlaid in different materials to create a lifelike effect. The Greek letter alpha (with a broken crossbar) is incised inside the neck. The face and hairstyle of this head reflect idealized types created by Greek sculptors in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. for images of athletes or the god Hermes. Only the lightly engraved beard suggests that the work portrays a particular individual.

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