Head of a Man

Class and production: sculpture/ statues

Cultural context: Eastern Greece/ Islands (?)

Date: 1st century B.C./ 1st century A.D.

Description

This head of a young man harks back to the sculptures from the Greek Archaic Period, especially those of the Severe style. According to stylistic details scholars suggest the head could have been made by an Eastern-Greece workshop or by an insular one. According to the cut in the back and the attachment hole, C. Saletti suggests it could have originally been the decorative part of the upper leg of a “monopodium” (a table supported by a single foot).

Materials and techniques : white marble, fine-grained/ sculpture

Dimensions: heigth 8.8 cm, length 5.3 cm

Provenance: Mantova Benavides Collection, Padua; Vallisneri Collection, Padua

University of Padua, Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art

Cat. Number: MB97

Bibliography

• Saletti Cesare, Testina virile severizzante, in Marco Mantova Benavides il suo museo e la cultura padovana del Cinquecento, Atti della giornata di studio nel IV centenario della morte 1582-1982, Padova 12 novembre 1983, a cura di Irene Favaretto, Padova, Accademia Patavina, 1984, pp. 93-101.
• De Paoli Marcella, 11.Testina virile arcaizzante, in Un Museo di Antichità nella Padova del Cinquecento. La raccolta di Marco Mantova Benavides all'Università di Padova, a cura di Irene Favaretto, Alessandra Menegazzi, Roma, Giorgio Bretschneider, 2013, p. 32.