Alexandru

The bust of Alexander the Great, the most realistic of Alexander's portraits, worked after a sculpture by Lysippos, at the end of the IVth century BC. It was found, in 1779, near Tivoli (Italy), and given by the Ambassador of Spain, Azora, to Napoleon, the First Consul. The original, in pentelic marble, is in the Louvre Museum. No original statues of Lysippos have been preserved. The physiognomy resembles that of other statues of Alexander. The ruler is shown looking up, as if he provoked the gods themselves. This vision of the inspired leader was widely copied by Alexandru's successors and imitators, and became a model for the royal Hellenistic portrait. This copy was made form plaster for the Simu Museum in Bucharest (now demolished). This work was once used as a model for ornamental drawing by the students of the Institute of Architecture in Bucharest (now the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu").