Plektron Fine Arts

Roman
An over-lifesize marble head of Apollo Citharoedus

The youthful god with his head turned slightly to his left, his face with a low forehead and full cheeks, his almond-shaped eyes with contoured lids recessed below softly-arching brows, the pupils unarticulated, his short wavy hair pulled back and crowned with a deeply drilled wreath of laurel.

The head is a copy of a type preserved in numerous copies. It represents Apollo as an over-lifesize standing draped figure holding a cithara. Among the finest examples is the colossal marble statue of Apollo Citharoedus of the Vatican Museums (2nd-century).