305 - 16TH-CENTURY ITALIAN SCHOOL - Portrait of Alexander the Great

16TH-CENTURY ITALIAN SCHOOL - Portrait of Alexander the Great Carved white marble. Height: 26 cm. This sculpture in the round depicts the head of a young man, traditionally identified as Alexander the Great. Carved in white marble, it follows the sculptural models of classical antiquity, as reinterpreted during the Italian Renaissance. The figure features an idealized face with a broad forehead, a straight and prominent nose, full lips slightly parted, and a rounded chin—elements that lend the figure a serene, noble, and somewhat introspective expression. The almond-shaped eyes, without pupils, are angled slightly upward, giving the face an elevated expression reminiscent of the heroic models of Hellenistic sculpture. The treatment of the hair is particularly striking, arranged in abundant wavy locks that frame the forehead and cascade down around the temples and ears, rendered with deep furrows and volumes of remarkable plasticity. This hairstyle echoes the characteristic anastoles—the upturned locks of hair traditionally associated with depictions of Alexander the Great, whose iconography was developed by Greek sculptors such as Lysippus during the 4th century BC. The head is slightly tilted and subtly turned, breaking the absolute frontality and lending naturalism and dynamism to the composition. The modeling of the facial surfaces combines softly polished areas with more pronounced volumetric transitions in the eyelids, nose, and mouth, while the hair exhibits a treatment of greater depth and expressiveness. Stylistically, the work can be linked to the revival of classical models that took place in Italian Renaissance sculptural workshops, particularly in 16th-century Florentine and Roman sculpture, when representations of emperors, philosophers, and heroes of antiquity acquired renewed importance in the decorative programs of palaces and humanist collections. Its formal conception allows for comparative references to the sculptural ...