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This porphyry sculpture represents the head of a young beardless man who turns to the left and looks upwards as though he is suffering mental or physical anguish. It is a copy of a famous antique marble head (now in the Uffizi, Florence) which was long known as ‘The Dying Alexander’ due to a later inscription (‘Alessandro’) on its pedestal. However, there is no actual evidence that it was originally intended to represent the dying hero Alexander the Great. Indeed it is highly unlikely that an ancient Greek sculptor would have made such a dramatic portrait, and The Dying Alexander does not resemble known portraits of Alexander, such as the Azara Herm – a Roman marble copy of a Greek head of Alexander the Great – now in the Louvre, Paris.
Title
Head of 'The Dying Alexander'
Date
17th C–18th C
Medium
imperial Egyptian porphyry
Measurements
H 81 x W 37 x D 37 cm
Accession number
NG2241
Acquisition method
presented by Henry Yates Thompson, 1894
Work type
Bust