Roman Head of a Male Deity, Perhaps Aristaeus

2nd century CE

Greek, Artist Roman, Artist

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Aristaeus was the divine son of the god Apollo and the nymph Cyrene. He was known in the ancient world as the founder and patron deity of the city of Cyrene in Libya, a Greek colony in North Africa. This head, from a colossal statue, portrays the god with a rather bland face surrounded by tousled asymmetrical curls, which are given dramatic life by being carved in high relief. On Aristaeus's head is a mural crown—a round flat-topped headdress with four vertical raised strips, perhaps intended to represent the defensive towers of the city walls. The enormous statue could have stood in a temple in Cyrene dedicated to Aristaeus.

Title Roman Head of a Male Deity, Perhaps Aristaeus

Artwork Date 2nd century CE

Makers (Artist) Greek (Artist) Roman

Medium Marble

Dimensions Overall: 24 × 14 × 16 inches (61 × 35.6 × 40.6 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Greco-Roman and Ancient European

Credit Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 41.9

Markings

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Provenance

(Joseph Brummer)

1941-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 20, no. 8 (1941): p. 73 (ill.).

"An Obsession With Fortune: Tyche In Greek And Roman Art." Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1994): no. 35, p. 113 (ill. fig.14), p. 29; p. 28, note 48 p. 33.

A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts, ed. Julia P. Henshaw. Detroit, 1995, p. 112 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Roman; after Greek, Roman Head of a Male Deity, Perhaps Aristaeus, 2nd century CE, marble. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund, 41.9.