Head of Eros

Head of Eros, probably a copy of a bronze statue, showing Eros stringing his bow, a statue in the British Museum's collections (1805,0703.19) that Townley acquired from the provenance of Castel di Guido. Many of these heads and statues became extremely pooular with 18th century collectors. The representation of Eros is not as a toddler but slightly older and he has feminine characteristics such as the full and sensuous mouth which had some restoration. The eyes are long and the brow flat but well defined. The original curls of the hair would fall on the forehead and traces of them can still be seen despite the restoration. At the temples the curls are rounded but much more orderly. A braid of hair runs along the top of the crown and ends up in a tousled hair knot and there has been some incrorrect restoration that makes the knot at the back far more projected. The Greek work that may have inspired the Roman sculpturors may have been an original by the 4th century BC sculptor Lysippos who created the cult statues of Eros on Thespiae.