Asclepius
Unknown · Second quarter of the second century AD (c. 125-135)
The god of healing stands nearly two and a half metres tall, bearded, with long hair bound by a rolled fillet, a mantle draped around his hips and over one shoulder, and sandals on his feet. Beside him a serpent, his sacred animal, coils up on the base. Look at the hair and beard: the deep channels were cut with a running drill, and there are still traces of red pigment in the hair, a rare reminder that Roman marbles were painted. The type goes back to a Greek statue of the fourth century before our era associated with the sculptor Timotheos.
The statue was found, it seems, at Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, and its style places it in the emperor's reign, around 125 to 135. It had been broken into a great many fragments and reassembled; part of the nose, the right forearm, sections of both legs and part of the serpent were replaced in marble, while the left hand was left missing. It came to Paris in 1803 among the antiquities transferred from Rome under Napoleon and remained in the Louvre after 1815.
Did You Know? Red paint still survives in the god's hair, a rare trace of the colour that once covered Roman statues.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.