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Head of Alexander the Great

3rd Century BC

Greece, Alexandria, Hellenistic

Marble

Overall: 26.5 x 14.5 x 13.8 cm (10 7/16 x 5 11/16 x 5 7/16 in.)

Gift of Mrs. Ralph King 1927.209

Location

102C Greek

Did you know?

Portraits of Alexander the Great share his characteristic anastole hairstyle, parted off-center and swept back from the forehead.

Description

Slightly smaller than life-size, this head of Alexander the Great features a slight turn, tilt, and upward gaze said to have characterized the young conqueror's posture in life. After his death, Alexander was worshiped as a god; posthumous portraits like this one, likely carved in Ptolemaic Egypt, portray him with long hair and youthful, idealized features.

Provenance

Dr. Edde, Alexandria

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 32 archive.org

Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 7; Plate 11 archive.org

Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 329, fig. 3 www.jstor.org

Smith, R. R. R. Hellenistic Sculpture: A Handbook. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Pp. 22, 210, 219, fig. 249.

Lehman, Karen M. "Sacred and Profane Hellenizing Marbles of the Late Third Century Roman Empire: Secular Portraits and Religious Narrative Sculptures in the Cleveland Museum of Art Reviewed in the Cultural Context." M.A. thesis, Kent State University, 2004. Mnetioned: p. v; reproduced: p. 110, fig. 28

Vandenbeusch, Marie, Aude Semat, and Margaret Maitland. Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art ; London : The British Museum, 2016. Reproduced: p. 170, fig. 111

Exhibition history

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Alexander the Great. Florida International Museum, St. Petersburg (October 1, 1996-March 31, 1997).

Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 13-June 12, 2016).

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{{cite web|title=Head of Alexander the Great|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1927.209|year=3rd Century BC|access-date=05 June 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Head of Alexander the Great

Head of Alexander the Great

Greece, Alexandria, Hellenistic

Location

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