Bust by Roman Sculptor

Nationality: Roman

Media: Marble
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Unknown Roman "Head of a Woman"

Nationality: Roman copy after a Greek sculptor

Creation Date: 200-300 BC
Media: Marble (?)
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

This is a Roman (?) copy of a Hellenistic sculpture. Very strange stylizations here. All photos by me.

Leochares' "Apollo Belvedere"

Nationality: Greek (original bronze)
Born/Died: 4th century BC
Creation Date: c. 350-325 BC
Size: 88 in. (224 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: The Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy

This is a photo I took of this sculpture in Italy and below is a superior image of the same sculpture. It should be noted that Leochares did not sculpt this piece of marble--it is a Roman copy made after a Greek bronze.

I think this sculpture is absolutely fantastic, but unlike many artists from previous centuries I do not worship it. While I admit that I am not privy to all the academic study about the proportions of this piece, I am not a believer in "magic-bullet" mathematical proportion studies that equate beautiful art--theories which are the basis for the aforementioned worship. I will articulate my reasons at some future date but to sum it up I will say this: to appreciate this sculpture because of the mathematics of it's dimensions would be like laughing at a joke because of the number of vowels it contains--certainly missing the point!

Unknown Roman Sculptor

Nationality: Roman

Media: Stone
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA



Photo by me.

Bust by Unknown Roman Sculptor

Nationality: Roman
Creation Date: 1870
Media: Marble?

I don't know anything about this Roman bust but it is one of my favorite depictions of the male figure.

After Polykeitos: Fragments of a marble statue of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head)

Special thanks to Paul for his donation!



This is a Roman copy of a Greek bronze originally made by Polykleitos. Interestingly, parts of this piece are marble and parts are plaster. The plaster portions were cast from another marble copy of the original bronze.

Unknown Roman Artist: Marble head of an athlete

Positive Portrayals of Sex in Art: Pompeiian Fresco

This image was painted on a bedroom wall in Pompeii and it was buried when Vesuvius erupted. It appears to be an inter-racial couple and there is evidence to suggest that the figures are intended to be Pygmalion and Galatea. In the Greek myth, Pygmalian was a Cypriot sculptor who did not think the women he saw in the world were good enough, so he carved a perfect woman out of ivory. Falling in love with the statue, he asked Venus to make her real and she granted his wish. Apparently the feeling was mutual!

An Unknown Roman Artist's "Torso of a Satyr" *

Roman Copy of Praxiteles' "Venus Braschi"