Statue of a Young Boy
1st century
- Medium
- Marble
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 58 × 24.5 × 18.9 cm (22 7/8 × 9 5/8 × 7 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Credit line
- Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Representations of children were popular in both public and private art during the Roman imperial period. It is uncertain whether this statue is a portrait of a specific child or was inspired by a basic type that had originated among the Greeks several centuries earlier. The boy, who has a head of curly hair, rounded cheeks, and a pudgy belly, gazes downward and to the side. It is possible that he is admiring a pet at his feet, as Roman statues of children frequently depict them with companion animals such as geese, doves, and puppies.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
