The 'Young Man of Selinunte' caused the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen to question his own skills practised in classical sculpture. - This head once served as an insert head for a statue. Comparisons with other heads of the same type and period (Vienna, Dresden) allow a reconstruction of the hairstyle, which seems to have been a rare hairdo of a victorious athlete referring to a limited time and region. The style of the young man's head in Hanover refers to the relief metopes of the Temple of Hera (Temple E) at Selinunte (built 460/50 BC). (AVS)

Former August Kestner Collection, Rome