Barracco-Budapest type female head

Testa femminile tipo Barracco-Budapest
Type: 
Sculpture
Year: 
Roman copy of a Greek original from the first half of the 5th century B.C.
Material and technique: 
Pentelic marble
Inventory: 
Inv. MB 85

The head, with its grave expression, is crowned by a heavy mass of hair that frames the forehead with two wavy bands. The knot of hair at the nape of the neck is held in place by a ribbon wound around the top of the head. The style and type of the head allow us to recognize the image of Persephone (whom the Romans called Proserpina), the daughter of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture. Persephone, abducted by Hades, spends six months a year in the underworld and six months on earth, with her mother.
Originally, the statue of Persephone must have been joined with one of Demeter, forming a group created in the first half of the 5th century B.C. and related to the mysteries celebrated in honor of the goddesses at the most important sanctuary dedicated to them, the one at Eleusis.

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The hall

Room 6 - Greek Art

Room 6 displays numerous original Greek reliefs and sculptures, some votive works and others funerary.