Bronze Pseudo-Seneca - second half of the 19th century

Bust known as "pseudo-Seneca".
Bronze, silver inlays for the eyes and Siena yellow marble base.
Reproduction of an antique.
Second half of the 19th century.
Our bust was made after a Roman bronze bust, itself a copy of a Greek original of the 2nd century BC, discovered at the Villa of the Papyrus of Herculaneum in 1754 and now kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. A dozen ancient examples of this bust portrait are known, previously described as representing the philosopher Seneca, the emaciated features of the face suggesting the harshness of the Stoic doctrine. Today, art historians tend to think that it would be more of an imagined portrait of Hesiod or Aristophanes, but the name pseudo-Seneca has remained.
A similar copy is kept by the Musée du Petit Palais under the inventory number PPS2366.