Ludovisi Ares – Bust
‘The most beautiful Mars that had been preserved from antiquity.’ Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768)
The Ludovisi Ares is a 2nd-century Roman marble copy of a late 4th-century BCE Greek original. Thus this sculpture of the Roman god of war receives his Greek name, Ares. The unknown Roman sculptor was a diligent copyist with a fine eye for detail. The original Greek sculptor is thought to be either Scopus or Lysippus.
This exquisite bust, cast from the original sculpture, draws attention to the artist’s representation of the beauty of the male form. In the original, this aspect was accentuated through the presence of Eros playing about his feet. However, art critics suspect this was an addition by its restorer in the 17th Century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
