This bust is a cast directly from a Roman copy of an original of the 4th century BC, housed at The British Museum (1805,0703.59). 

The head was originally mounted in Albani's collection on a torso of Bacchus which was soon exchanged for a head of Bacchus found by Gavin Hamilton. As described by Townley, "A Head of Apollo larger than life. The hair is plaited over the forehead and tied in a knot behind. In the account book the head is described simply as 'a head of Apollo', and the same description was still used around 1781 (TY 12/1), but in the 'L' Catalogue of 1787-8, it was called 'Apollo Philesius' (TY 12/3). This description may be presumed to have appeared also in the fair copy of this catalogue, now in Towneley Hall, by the entry is concealed by a slip that has been pasted in, with a revised entry in Townley's hand designating the head as 'Apollo Iners', and repeating reference to Winckelmann, who 'speaks of this head, as a rare specimin of the sublime early style of Greek sculpture'.

It is believed to be from a sculpture of the Lyceus type, a style depicting Apollo originating from Praxiteles, which depicts the God resting on a support with his right forearm touching the top of his head. His hair is fixed in braids on top of a head typical of chilhood. Many sculptures follow this type and were used in later artworks, such as in the Amazon type statues and the  Sleeping Ariadne/Apollo.

If you produce new work with the model and want to share it with us, drop us a line at web@smk.dk or stw@myminifactory.com. This scan was produced in collaboration between The Statens Museum for Kunst and Scan the World for the SMK-Open project. Every model produced from this initiative is available under an open source license.

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