Bust of the Apollo Lykeios

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This bust is a direct cast from a Roman copy of an original created in the 4th century BC, now housed at The British Museum (1805,0703.59). Originally, the head was mounted on a torso of Bacchus in Albani's collection, which was later 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 simply called 'a head of Apollo', but around 1781 it was referred to as 'Apollo Philesius' (TY 12/3). This description may have also appeared in the fair copy of this catalogue, now in Towneley Hall, by a revised entry in Townley's hand designating the head as 'Apollo Iners'. The reference is repeated to Winckelmann, who speaks of this head as a rare specimen 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 a typical childhood head. Many sculptures follow this type and were used in later artworks, such as the Amazon type statues and the Sleeping Ariadne/Apollo. The 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.