The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Idealized Head

50 BCE–100 CE

Italy, Roman

dolomite
Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Leonard C. Hanna 1924.125
Location: 103 Roman

Did You Know?

This head could represent a woman or goddess, or a youthful god such as Apollo.

Description

This head combines an idealizing style with the serene expression that was characteristic of early Classical sculpture in Greece. Though copies of Greek masterpieces were popular in Rome during the late Republic and early empire, Romans also created many new sculptures that emulated the Classical style, which they felt conveyed a sense of the divine. This statue was probably one such piece, borrowing iconographically and stylistically from various Greek examples.
  • Count Gregory Stroganoff, Rome
    Count Gregory Stroganoff, Rome
  • Howard, Rossiter. "A Fifth Century Greek Head" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 11, no. 2 (February 1924): 27-46. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 26-28 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Mentioned and Reproduced: 62 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 75 archive.org
    Fowler, Harold N., "A Marble Head in Cleveland," Sonderdruck aus der Festschrift fur James Loeb. Munich, F. Bruckmann. 1930. pp. 63-65, pl. IV, V.
    Bieber, Margarete. "Greek Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art," Art in America. (July 1943) pp. 112-126, illust. fig 4.
    J. Paul Getty Museum. Marble: Art Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture. Malibu, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990. Discussed p. 82, reproduced p. 84, fig. 13
  • Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Materials of the Artist. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-December 12, 1958).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=Idealized Head|url=false|author=|year=50 BCE–100 CE|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.125