427 - Bust of Plato – Italian School – 20th century

Bust of Plato – Italian School – 20th century This terracotta sculpture of Plato, created in the 20th century, is modeled after a famous portrait of the Greek philosopher housed in the Glyptothek in Munich, reviving the idealized image with which the Western sculptural tradition has represented the Athenian thinker. The bust depicts Plato with a serene and focused expression, framed by abundant hair and a characteristic wavy beard. The face, rendered with a marked sense of volume, conveys the gravity and introspection traditionally associated with depictions of the philosopher. The choice of terracotta lends the piece a particularly warm and tactile quality, allowing the viewer to appreciate the traces of the modeling and the small irregularities inherent in a material worked directly. The model on which this work is based belongs to the long tradition of portraits of philosophers from classical antiquity. Plato’s image has survived to the present day through various sculptural forms and ancient replicas, which helped establish a recognizable likeness of the philosopher. The presence of this type of portrait in European museums and collections also played a fundamental role in the dissemination of the classical ideal during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Dimensions: 41 × 21 × 23 cm.