Greece / c. 150–100 BCE
Torso of a Youth
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Torso of a Youth as sculpture (Greece · c. 150–100 BCE).
It was common practice in the 1700s and 1800s to attach new heads or limbs to fragmented ancient statues like this one.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as marble.
The museum's collection notes: The exceptional workmanship suggests that this sculpture was carved by a Greek sculptor. Its incomplete state of preservation makes precise identification difficult, but it was most likely an Apollo or Dionysos, modeled in the soft, somewhat effeminate style of Praxiteles. The museum’s Apollo Sauroktonos is a useful parallel. The two drill holes in the upper chest are ancient and were possibly used to support separate long tresses of hair. The sculpture may well be a copy of a fourth-century original.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtTorso of a YouthOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.