The bust depicts an Eleusinian Demon, mistakenly identified as a portrait of Publius Virgilius Maron when he moved from Sabbioneta to Mantua. This identification had extraordinary fortune, so much so that it became the most famous work in the collection of the Accademia Mantovana di Lettere e Arti and, for this reason, at the beginning of the 19th century it was transferred to Paris by the French and destined for the Muse Room of the Musée Napoléon. Around 1849 it was used as a model for the bust of Virgil placed in the Pincio Gardens in Rome.
Where to see this work of art
Late 2nd century
Italic marble on stucco bust
