Ludovisi Ares

Roman copy of a Greek original. This seated figure of Ares, the Roman god of war, was much more famous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries than today. The art historian Winckelmann praised it highly, and numerous copies were made for wealthy art collectors, along with many smaller replicas as cheaper souvenirs.

The small figure at the god’s feet is the child Eros, but it is most probably an invention of the seventeenth century restorer, the Baroque sculptor Bernini

Number

262

Material

Marble

Location of Original

Rome, National Museum Terme 156

Size

1.56m

Accession

Purchased (from Brucciani?) in 1884

References

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 289 (n.11), pl. 102.2
Richter: Sculpture & Sculptors of the Greeks (1950), 276
Lawrence: Classical Sculpture (1928), 256-
Picard: Archéologie Grècque; Sculpture III (1948), fig. 321
Brunn-Bruckmann: Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, pl. 388

Date

Roman second century CE. Original: C4 BCE

Provenance

From the Ludovisi Collection

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