Roman Marble Head of a Child

This marble fragment of a child’s head would have once likely been attached to a larger composition, the subject of which has been lost to us. Children are frequently depicted in Roman art, from group portraits of patrician families, to sarcophagi commissioned for deceased children carved with imagery memorializing the youth of the deceased. Perhaps the most famous, and most frequently depicted, infant in antiquity was Cupid, the son of Venus, and God of Love. The Roman equivalent of the Greek Eros, Cupid is characteristically represented as a plump, winged child carrying a bow and arrow. Although it is impossible to determine the identity of this child, his round, full cheeks and flowing curls of hair are certainly consistent with those of Cupid.