Sophocles

Ca. 150. White marble.
Room 089

Sophocles (497/6-406/5 b.c.e.) was already famous during his lifetime as his tragedies triumphed at the Dionysian Feasts in Athens more frequently than any others. He is represented with a thin cord around his head, which indicates that, as a priest of the local gods of health, Amynus and Halon, in the year 420/19, he took care of health god Asclepius of Epidaurus, probably at the sanctuary of Amynus, until that new god obtained his own sanctuary in Athens. That is why, after his death, Sophocles was worshipped in Athens as Heros Dexion, that is, he who cares for (the god). It has recently been hypothesized that this portrait of Sophocles is the statue that, according to ancient literature, was erected by his son, Iophon, shortly after his death.

The Prado head is one of the Roman versions of his portrait, identifiable from the inscription that survives on an example in the Vatican Museums (inv. MV326.0.0). Is a fine work and a faithful likeness, but it has lost its original surface.

Schröder, Stephan F, Catálogo de la escultura clásica: Museo del Prado I, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1993, p.49-51

Series

Colección Felipe V Colección marqués del Carpio

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Weekly sessions in English: The “Apotheosis of Claudius”

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Isabel Farnese, Collector of Classical Sculpture

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Weekly sessions in English: "Diadumenos" (between 140 and 150), Roman workshop

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Weekly sessions in English: "Sleeping Ariadne" (150-175)

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Natural Histories. A Project by Miguel Ángel Blanco: A Leviathan swallows a Goddess

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Related artworks

Silenus and Sophocles

Pencil on paper, Mid-XVIIIcentury

Eutichio Ajello

Inventory number: E000102
Author: Roman workshop
Title: Sophocles
Date: Ca. 150
Technique: Sculpted
Medium: White marble
Dimension: Height: 57.5 cm; Width: 34.5 cm; Depth: 28 cm; Weight: 73.35 Kg
Series: Colección Felipe V; Colección marqués del Carpio
Provenance: Collection of Cardinal Camillo Massimo/Massimi, Rome, 1678; Collection of the 7th Marquis of El Carpio, Rome, 1686; Royal Collection (Felipe V's Collection, Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia)

Bibliography +

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Studniczka, von Franz, Die Anfänge der griechischen Bildniskunst, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1988, pp. 264 ss..

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Schröder, Stephan F, Catálogo de la escultura clásica: Museo del Prado I, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1993, pp. 49-51.

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Mitologia i creació :el poeta i els seus déus a l' Antiguita..., Fundació " La Caixa", Barcelona, 2005.

Azcue Brea, Leticia; Arias Martínez, Manuel, 'Galería Jónica de Escultura', En: Memoria de Actividades 2022, 2023, pp. 258-259, 456.

Other inventories +

Inv. Real Museo, Sección Escultura, 1857. Núm. 452.
452. Una cabeza de marmol de Carrara que representa un filosofo antiguo. / Alto 2 pies, 1 pulg.