  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  The Etruscans emphasized realism, an element important to them in the representation of dead ancestors and honored living contemporaries. Roman portraiture of the Republican period is a remarkably successful integration of Greek and Etruscan influences. Greek artists understood anatomy and the naturalistic rendering of living forms. This head of an old man may have been a funerary portrait and is striking in its uncompromising realism. The bald head with blood vessels visible under the skin, the sunken eyes and sagging skin produce a harsh portrayal of old age. The abstract design created by the lines across the brow, at the outer edges of the eyes, and on the neck reflect another indigenous influence: the love of surface pattern. The Romans of the Republic were a tough, puritanical, pragmatic people who found super-realism entirely congenial for representations of revered dead ancestors, as well as for portraits of the living.
  
  
  Title
  Head of a Man
  
  
  Artwork Date
  early 1st century CE
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Roman
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Marble
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 15 3/4 &Atilde;&#151; 8 1/4 &Atilde;&#151; 8 1/4 inches (40 &Atilde;&#151; 21 &Atilde;&#151; 21 cm)
  Including base: 20 1/4 &Atilde;&#151; 15 3/4 &Atilde;&#151; 14 3/4 inches (51.4 &Atilde;&#151; 40 &Atilde;&#151; 37.5 cm)
  Mount: 4 1/2 &Atilde;&#151; 7 1/2 &Atilde;&#151; 6 1/2 inches (11.4 &Atilde;&#151; 19.1 &Atilde;&#151; 16.5 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  Greco-Roman and Ancient European
  
  
  Credit
  City of Detroit Purchase
  
  
  
  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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  27.211
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
